Give Us Your Feedback

IMPORTANT: PLEASE USE THE EMAIL below FOR YOUR FEEDBACK. NOT JUST the comments to the blog.

How was your experience? Let us know.

Each year after the event, Burning Man staff reflect on what we’ve accomplished and what we plan to do in the future — changes, improvements, what was right, wrong, etc. We want to include your feedback in our planning process. Due to the fact we typically get a strong response to this request for feedback, it is not practical to reply directly to everyone. Depending on the nature of the feedback, some participants may receive a direct response. If many feedback emails touch upon similar issues, then we will draft a general response that will be sent on the Jackrabbit Speaks and posted in the Q&A AfterBurn Report in early 2012. We DO promise that your email will be read. We want to hear from new and old Burners alike. Starting with the good before the bad is helpful. ;-) If you’d like to contribute, send your constructive comments to xxxxx by October 19th.[UPDATE: Feedback loop is now closed for 2011.]

Furthermore, Burning Man staff members are interested in meeting with participants and hearing their thoughts in person during their increasing number of trips to meet with Regional groups year round. We will gladly work with any Regional groups to set up gatherings with participants when Board or Senior Staff members travel. If you would like to find out more about the Regional Network and a group in your area please visit http://regionals.burningman.com.

Thanks for taking the time to contribute your thoughts. We promise we’ll read what you have to say. Looking forward to 2012!

Will Chase is Burning Man's Minister of Propaganda, working on global communications strategy. He's the editor-in-chief for the Jackrabbit Speaks newsletter and the Voices of Burning Man blog, and content manager for Burning Man’s web properties. He also oversees the ePlaya BBS and Burning Man’s social networking. Will first attended Burning Man in 2001. He volunteered as the Operations Manager for the ARTery (Black Rock City’s art HQ) and was on the Burning Man Art Council from 2003-2008. He was Web Team Project Manager and Webmaster from 2004 until he transitioned to the Communications Department in 2009.

The event was great overall. The roadside trash on the way out and amount of moop on the playa was pretty heart breaking though. We tried to do our share of moop patrol but it was overwhelming and felt like we were barely making a dent. Does the DPW work the highway after the event? We also saw someone’s pet dog running around barefoot on the playa on Sunday. Booo for bad pet owners that bring their dogs. If only there was a way to make the survival guide mandatory reading. :)

I had a great time. It was my first burn and I was awed by so many things. My wife loved the video feeds and watched from home. The people there were very helpful and giving. It was a deep spiritual experience for me to see how the good in people was so much greater than the bad. I saw strangers replacing peoples stolen bikes with their own. People given food and water when needed. Emotional support given to those who were distraught and hammocks/chairs provided to the weary. All in celebration of life. Yes there were those negative things, but they were a minority at burning man.
)'(

Good Burn. The traffic on Mon. was a true nightmare. it took me 6 plus hours to get off the playa! More traffic announcements to the burners would have been appreciated. Hope you guys can do better traffic organization next year. I will never leave on Mon again!

WTF happened with exodus?? I mean really? The time being given on the Radio was four to five hours it took me TEN !!! I talked to some kids from Canada , 12 hours !!!! What was the most frustrating was the lines between the City and the De-greeters there was no direction being given by exodus staff and the right hand lanes seemed to have much longer ” pulses ” than the lines on the left. After 4 hours in line we got to the de greeters station there was a girl who turned around because she had been in line for 45 min, I almost screamed.

Did they rename “Burning Man” to “Burning Weed Man?” So much smoking and obvious lack of concern about smoking, I had to worry about pissing hot when I got back to work. Watched one guy with a joint about 3-4 inches in diameter walk around blowing smoke on everyone. If I was 18-21 I might not care, I’m 39 and a have a career that I’d like to keep. Road by one camp and saw a camp handing out pills in broad daylight. I hardly saw any open drug use two years ago and now it’s right in your face. Hey do what you do, just don’t do it near me and at least respect the people around you. Keep it in you’re private campsite, that includes the smoke. Go in your tent, zip it up and smoke it out, pop your pills or whatever floats your boat. In my opinion this is becoming a drug event, nothing more. LEO needs to step up enforcement.

Fabulous year. New DMV process was awesome. Only 1 negative experience: after the temple burn a large sound art car parked and blasted music. After temple (all night long thru sunrise at least) this has been a quiet sacred space, drum circles. It really disturbed many people. I walked over and gently asked them to move, which they did not. I actually had to leave the burn as loud base physically hurts my body AND my heart was so open, it emotionally hurt also. I was very disappointed that they did not respect the experience for others. I’d prefer not to add rules, but amplified sound should be banned from that area; there is a whole playa for them to make a party! Thank you for your consideration.

Once again an excellent burn for me and our crew at The Petting Zoo. Thank you so very much for the award and medal as well. We have the most excellent time serving the burners that can’t wait to return again and again for some delicious “Pussy Juice” a bar favorite. Many burners come and tell stories of their travels along the Playa. Most of them new burners and their complaint was especially the senior citizens on how rude people are about their art cars and will not transport anyone who does not camp with them. I find that incredibly rude, I understand that you might have a capacity for your art cars but, to be rude and tell other burners NO not if you don’t camp with us on riding. I remember years and years ago very burner that I came across was more then willing to let you ride if they had the room. I think if you have an art car and drive it around on the Playa and if you stop ,burners should be able to get on a take a ride to the art cars next destination. Just a thought it seemed to work well back when.
Thank you again for such a fabulous time on the Playa.
See you next year !

thank you for not making people sit down during the man’s burn. back in the day, nobody sat down. for many years, going to the burn meant you were bombarded by back-and-forth yelling, “DOWN IN FRONT!” and “COME EARLY NEXT TIME!” i’ve even seen people in the back throw bottles at people standing in the front. needless to say, i told myself i would never attend the man’s burn again. because we had a couple of virgins with us, i decided to go this year. what an amazing burn it was! the best i may have ever seen! the vibe around the man is so much more festive. music, cars, dancing… this is what it should be like. many old timers in our camp stayed behind, i told them to watch it on video. it was that incredible. NEVER GO BACK!!

I had the time of my life. Seriously, I have never had as much fun in my entire existence. I also have not had this much faith in humanity, ever. It was my first burn, so I apologize to all of the jaded old timers that hate me for being a virgin. I didn’t leave any garbage or bring my dog, or hand out drugs in the open. I was respectful and just drank it all in and left a different human than when I got there. I will be back next year as a better person and if you don’t like it, fuck off!

Every year I am sickened by the amount of trash spread along Highway 447 by departing Burners who fail to properly secure trash bags to their vehicles.

Could we not have an official exit inspection, whereby vehicles with improperly secured trash bags would be shunted off to the side until they tie their trash down?

Surely Burning Man could even provide a big roll of cheap rope, plus a large quantity of some type of plastic S-hooks large enough to readily attach to vehicle wheel-wells, fenders, and bumpers; these items could be made available to vehicles with insecurely tied trash bags. Stretchy bungee-type “cargo nets” could also be made available at cost to departing Burners.

The expense and person-hours involved in these steps would almost certainly be far less than the cost and effort required to pick up all the spilled trash along the roadways of northern Nevada.

Furthermore, it would also avoid the negative feelings regarding Burner trash which must certainly arise among the locals, and the Paiute tribes, whose lands we pass through during Exodus.

I’m no longer a virgin (and apologize to the person who commented that there were to many of us if I’ve offended you). I can’t imagine a more life-changing experience. All good. It was the people that made it for me. And the Temple, of course.

But yeah – the exodus on Monday was bogus. Pulsing needed to start right away – rather than four hours into it. And more info from bmIr might have been in order.

Is there anyway to organize a departure plan to minimize the lines to get out of BRC? I think if something is set up when buying your ticket, you must pick a set day & time slot . In order to keep people to stick to the time they picked, a fine of $50 will be enforced at the exit if not obeyed. (just an idea). Everyone I know had to wait at least 5 hours to get out of BRC to the road this year, and it really just puts a damper on the whole experience. There has to be a way to organize departure times so that leaving the best place in the world doesnt have to be the worst feeling in the world. Your amazing week is over, the drive home awaits you, and before you can even get there you must pack up all your stuff, say your goodbyes, then sit in a 5 hours + line in agonizing heat. Also, anything that isnt dubstep next year will be greatly appreciated. Ciao.

I think the virgin comment was silly because I was a virgin and was picking up any and all moop that I walked by and shoved it in my pack both on my way out and on my way to camp (even misplaced TP)…maybe mention carrying a trash bag in your pack and doggy doo bags for that extra nasty moopy…better lit streets at night would be nice to find your camp if you end up getting in at night…I noticed a lot of glow stick moop so maybe write something about how to better attach glow sticks to outfits…The ice points were fine if you came with a garden cart or wheel barrel. The info tent was nice being able to look up where friends were camping. Maybe have that viewable online before people head out. Stress walking if able on big burn nights. It is not only a more rich experience but allows people to move around easier. I was guilty of being a darkward once because I had to shit before I had a chance to light up…feel free to gift light if you have extra…I purposely carried 10 extra glow sticks to hand out for those who left camp over excited and for got to light up …another thing about virgins is that you have more people to spread the word for improving our default world. Anyway epic experience. My camp was way over prepared and eager to play a bigger role in the years to come. Keep an eye out for Fat Camp’s preburns next summer in Daly City. Great mix of virgins, nonburners, burners and vets. Anyone know the best way to get involved with doing local volunteering in the community or at regionals either in Reno or the Bay Area please contact me…I can only spend so much time in lab without going nuts….If someone is going to complain please provide reasonable solutions to discuss or possible options to explore.

The Temple of Transition was beyond words. It was the most beautiful structure providing the most beautiful experience for myself and loved ones. The Earth Harp, the spires…ahhhh I could go on for days about the temple. I was left speechless and in tears several times. If any future temple is even remotely close to this one…it’ll continue to be perfect a perfect burn. I visited every day…definitely made my burn!!

Seriously I have talked to some other folks about next year and all inc me are 40 plus old old dead heads that know all fest ropes I am not likeing what I am reading in the last days of Garcia this started happening also this makes me wonder if I should even put
together this undertaking….
I know my crew would fit right in but some of these comments make me wonder
Enough from me
Peace to all,

My 1st comment after 7 burns. Folks liked the new DMV setup. Best fireworks ever. Someone kidnapped Larry Harvey cutout at esplanade and 5:30 and a safety hazzard was created with rebar sticking out of ground.DPW did take care of this. Also broke off 5:30 & esplanade st. sign right in front of me. I chased after them but I am not young. Shame on burners that are vandalizing BRC. Thought that if u refused a ride on your art vehicles, if reported, you could lose your license. I lived in the black rock as a yound woman and never imagined anything like this. Could have more imagined a bombing range. Be Earth Friendly.

It was my first time at Burning Man.My entire time there was amazing and the Temple moved me close to tears.The time sitting waiting to enter BM was not well organized as well as the exodus.I too was saw to see garbage bags left on the side of the highway :-( … People need to KNOW how to secure their loads when leaving BM .

This was my third year attending and have always had really friendly greeters but this year however encountered the biggest a-holes I’ve ever met. Normally I would have just brushed it off but was with three other family members who where virgins and it gave them a really bad first taste of Burning Man. He was yelling at everyone even when they didn’t do anything wrong. It just seems that people who are going to volunteer should have a good attitude instead of yelling at everyone, especially when they haven’t done anything. Unfortunately didn’t catch him name.

an almost perfect burn — best one in many, many years, i think. just a few things spring to mind:

1) we had an unusually loud dubstep camp across the street. after about a dozen formal complaints to the rangers (NONE by our camp — this was in talking to other neighbors) and also attempts to talk it out with the camp itself, they finally did tone down the volume a bit by friday & saturday. scuttlebutt said they were placed there after running out of room on the side facing the playa. any way to avoid this in the future would be greatly appreciated.

2) i’ll second fabien: far too many darkwads this year. i’m continually amazed at how clueless they are about this, after so many reminders.

3) SINCE WHEN DID THE MORATORIUM ON FEATHERS GO AWAY? i must’ve missed the memo, but last year and this year i’ve started to see more and more. i can just tell that none of these people have ever spent any time picking feathers out of suspicious wet spots on the playa on monday. >: |

The People, the Music, the Art, the Place were beyong fantasy, beyond description.

BUT!

What about the ban on Feathers?

I was near 3 & H and we had little to no MOOP. People picked up, or our Tribe did.
We all commented on the way that People arounf us and at the Camps handled drug ingestion. They were very subtle. We hardly saw any drugs. Drunks and Booze yes, pot no.

What was with the “Full” signs day and night on some Art Cars (that we empty or half empty) Rude! Thank you wonderful and friendly folks at Black Rock City Lemonade for picking up peeps not in their Camp. Bravo! They saved out lives!

What was with all of the trash leaving BRC. What an embarassment!. After we all worked so hard in our area to get every little thread and tiny piece of plastic, to see the road all the way to 80 lined with trash was disgusting and embarassing. Really Burners?

I have atteneded Festivals for years, decades, multiple decades and The Burn is one of the Best Events I have every taken part in. It is well organized, thoughtful and provides enough direction without being heavy handed.

OK, I do have a problem with the streams that push their way to the front on the stages like other were not even there. I am losing a toenail because I got stomped on my someone just pushing their way to the front of Beats Antique. On Facebook, I read about a Robot Dude getting pummeled at the Temple while 15 other watched . Sounds like alcohol was involved. You have no way of banning assholes, or groups that become assholes when they drink as a group..

Our experience was magic.

Oh I do agree. More distribution points for ice is a good thing. And I don’t know who the Bacon Loudspeaker Guy on 3 & H was, but we loved him and miss him. We hope he is back next year…The Man Burns is 350 some days… We will be there!

My first burn, and I was with a really good group. I am in awe. I didn’t meet a single a-hole. Almost every porta-potty I used was clean and supplied. I can’t believe how generous people are out there. I’m sorry that I lost my hat during the temple burn – someone had to pick it up. I’m definitely coming back. Meanwhile I’m working on my gifting capability throughout the year.

Techno (dubstep) music too loud, esp during the burns. That’s about it.

Amazing week with my 19 year old daughter and her best friend who were both virgins.
a) Exodus needs to be better organized, last year we left at same time took 2.5 hours pop. about the same as last year. This year 6 plus hours. b) We purposely set up camp out on J and 9 so we are not part of the all night clubs but yet there they were Over loud, rude people, and don’t get me started on what they do to the porta potties. PLEASE make them stay closer to center camp and out of the burbs.

I can’t believe no one has mentioned this, but people who selfishly bring their children to the playa need to stop. It’s no place for kids. It’s obvious enough that dogs and cats aren’t allowed on the playa, so what makes anything thing it’s responsible to bring an infant? I personally feel that child services should be parked at the gate ready to take any children into protective custody if their parents try to get them into the event.

Kids don’t need to be exposed to the harsh climate, and for the camps who are nice enough to provide alcohol to their fellow burners don’t deserve to have the threat of a stiff fine hanging over their heads. It’s ridiculous to expect everyone to carry ID around with them all week long. Do the right thing and make Burning Man an event for responsible adults *only*.

I arrived in BRC around 12:01 AM Monday hoping to find a campsite as close to the loud music on 10:00 — with a good view of the playa. There was plenty of open-space but someone used flags to mark off a huge area.

When I woke up the next morning someone left a rude sign on my car window calling me a nasty name for parking in their huge, flagged area. I ended up moving to a place with not much view and noisy generators.

My suggestion is to setup generator-free zones. Anyone who sets up a generator within 100-feet (or more) of these areas must shield it.

Maybe also limit the size of an area someone can “reserve” with flags or better yet, ban “flagging” altogether!

Awesome burn!! There was little moop around our camp as well. Early mornings my husband and I gathered Moop left by visitors the night before. The feathers weren’t too bad however I was amazed at all the party favors I came across. A dispensary baggie full of cinnamon flavored THC, bag of pills marked with alien head/ diamond (hard to tell), 2 joints, tiny baggie of brown crystals. So I took them all, kidding. If anyone lost these items they are available at lost and found. Hehehe. I think if everyone just picked up a little moop here and there it wouldn’t be a big deal. You might even consider what you pick up, to be gifts from the playa. <3
I'm a big NO on banning electric/gas scooters! I followed the rules, decorated my goped, kept it well lit, and followed the 5mile rule. I was EXTREMELY aware of the people around me as to NOT create dust clouds around them, WAY less than the art cars did. I made sure my goped had no seat can't say everyone else did the same. I think I saw 2 scooters, not gopeds but actual scooters (street legal) cruising around. Maybe if there was some sort of fine for not following rules but I'm not keen on bans.
Just my $0.02. Great year! See ya home in 2012.

Amazing experience! Great playa, city layout.
Problem issues:
1) Loud obnoxious, drunk DPW crew at Temple burn. These idiots should be banned!
2) The exodus was absolutely the worst in 10 years! 7 hours from camp to the road. I hear we were lucky!
3) Too Many loud art cars at burns. They blocked all the views and they all played obnoxious noise at full volume. This took the event to a new level. We are considering not coming back because of it!
4) Ban Dub Step! It’s not music. It’s an audible assault on the beauty of the playa. Really, it’s truly crap and worse than people shitting on the playa.

4th Burn. Came late…….no programs left. What ever happened to the rules about having lights back and front on your bike? Scary at nite for this 60+ woman. Luckily I ran into my friend, and got driven around the playa. We left before the man burned, so no traffic problems. But then again…….missed the burn. But 6-7 hrs. Yikes!! )'(

Lets put it this way we are if not in our late 40s me 49 this month know we would be welcome in any camp. If I/we choose to do this, hopefully some of this negative stuff/problem child stuff will be handled. I throughly enjoyed watching and talking to friends that have been there before and are thinking, maybe next year, I/we would take the trip, but useless/not so good happenings, will be a reason why we I/we would not take this adventure. I can totally see why some people had nothing but a wonderful time. It just seems as we get older, we as a group see more of what we would call, not ok. Do not get me wrong, I like to play like the next person does, but issues I personally do not like to be bothered when we are only having fun. I do not like the man in any situation but, if they have to be there, and hopefully they would realize we/most of the folks are not the problem….. I will watch this closely and talk with the people that are really thinking about doing this if the organization is there. Anyway, right now a bunch of us are thinking about doing the 3 night swing of Furthur, Chi town, Mil, and STL. Like I said I have seen a good thing be messed up by the minority.

Peace to all and this looks like a wonderful time if we could avoid the…..

My first burn and my husband’s second. The people at the entry gate were very courteous. Yes, there were some idiot virgins- mostly older douchebag guys who stick out like turds in a punchbowl.
We are very MOOP-conscious and were impressed by the lack of it, but I agree with the WTF about the feathers. Please ban them!
I agree with mullingitover about no kids, even though I know it does work for some families. We have two young kids and I’d never dream of bringing them here. I do think the kids I saw seemed to be having fun; however, such a drug-drenched environment hardly seems the place for them. When an art car rolled by blasting “Face down, ass up, that’s the way we like to f**k!”, I thought “Who’d bring kids here?” Kids’ Camp or not, the Burn Guide says it’s an “erotically charged environment”. You decide.
The Bi-Girls party turned out to be a pathetic attempt by two lonely, horny guys to see some bi action in their RV. We showed up expecting a bunch of fun people dancing; instead there were a few people huddled in the dark. No thanks!
I loved Camp Beaverton! Another favorite was PleaseAIR’s pole party, the cute cupcake cars, and the skeleton installation that rotated- unreal! Kudos to the guys who gallantly misted the ladies with water vs. the weirdo at the Hiney Hygiene station who accidentally cut a pregnant lady’s pubic area while trimming her bush. I thought it would be a funny way to clean up, but this guy just rubs soap around your lady bits up and down (very bad for your urethra!) and tries to stick his finger in all of your orifices for “hygienic” purposes. Never again!! But you gotta give him credit for trying. L
Thanks to all the wonderful people who made the Burn happen. The art was amazing and it’s great to meet so many fun people. Hope to do it again next year.

What about the alleged radiation that emanates from below the Playa? The entire site/area is allegedly an old military testing ground. Is this true? Someone had a geiger counter and apparently it wasn’t all too safe.

Do Burning Man organizers know about this and is there any danger to Burners?

I would greatly appreciate a brief reply to my email about this issue.

This was my 2nd burn, It was the greatest experience of my life. My first burn was really bad and I swore I’d never go back. Well, I’ll be back next year ( 2012 ).

Thank-You to the people who did the potty project and for getting the information out there to everyone about what SHOULD NOT be put in the port-a-potties.

If my suggestion counts at all, please consider this; It would help those that are disabled to use some type of transportation on playa that doesn’t have to be registered as an art car or other registered vehicle with DMV. If a disabled parking permit is clearly noticable, shouldn’t that be enough ? as long as that person has the paper work that comes with the parking permit from the US Department of Motor Vehicles. I’m not saying this transportation should be provided, I’m sure most people have their own, it would just be nice to be able to use it with out a bunch of paperwork.

The Temple was AWESOME, you could feel the emotions of all the people who had been there before the burn and the night of the burn was pretty intense, Thank-You for such a beautiful structure and for the spiritual freedom that it offers to everyone, no matter their religion. It was FANTASTIC.

The only bad thing I can say about the Temple burn was the scissor lift being park in the middle of the crowd and when someone in the crown yelled to have some respect, the scissor lift operator yelled back VERY loudly, and I quote ” I’ve got your respect right here cunt “, It was VERY UNPROFESSIONAL conduct from the operator and VERY disrespectful and UNCALLED FOR, I think she should be reprimanded or something.

Also, I whole heartedly agree about bringing children out to the playa, it shouldn’t happen, it’s not the place to bring kids under the age of 18.

The trash on 447 was unbelieveable, I agree that on the way out the gate it should be checked to make sure it’s succure, but not just the trash, but everything else that’s tied to the top of any vehicle.

DARKWADS—–GET GLOW

Exodus was a nightmare, 7 1/2 hours to sit in the heat, more info. from BMIR would be nice.

I came away from this Burning Man experience a different person, my thanks to the organizers of the event. We will be back in 2012 ready to be part of the GREATEST experience there is.

4) EXODUS
This year, in an attempt to avoid the normal exodus chaos we left @ 5 AM Monday from the 6 o’clock fork. After about 10 minutes of driving with the flow of traffic at 10 mph, we came to a stop far before the first sweeping right turn of the S-shaped road. WTF? By dawn, after sitting in the slowest moving traffic I’ve ever seen in 12 years I looked though my binoculars and discovered the problem…a single file line had developed on the road connecting the playa to the pavement and was doubling the back-up time. We we’re still two hours away and completely grid locked. As far as I could see there was no one directing pavement traffic or if there was. There was no one available to fix the problem of the single file line that had developed. As we kept inching forward for the next hour, I kept checking. Yep…a single file line!!! At one point some RV was lagging so bad on the bumpy ass road the next person ahead of them had a two-minute lead by the time that RV hit the pavemnt. Come on people!!! Wake up it’s time to pay attention and DRIVE!!! You drove in with two lanes, please drive out on two lanes.

By 8 AM as we approached the merge zones, we heard on BMIR the backup was already 5 hours. Luckily someone ahead of us showed the mass of sleepy sheep there was a second lane and put a stop to the single file non-sense. Either that or the road workers that showed up at 7 AM finally got all the cones out to divide the skinny road into two-lanes. Nevertheless, the damage was done and unrecoverable during on an Exodus day. I’m sure it only got worse from there. I’ve read people experienced 6-12 hour delays.

SOLUTIONS:
1) Add signs, cones, and/or personally guiding the folks their last clue for the year. “TWO LANES (with two parallel arrows)
2) We need the road personell out their earlier during Exodus, not partying or catching up on sleep.
3) Improve the road…widen it to 3 wide lanes of pavement or at minimum compacted improved dirt. Dedicate one lane for entering, one for exit, and the middle is flexible. People travel faster on smooth roads, slower on rough roads. After a merge, you want traffic flow to increase increased to speed up the merging process.

WHINNING:
Come on BMorg and Traffic crews, this isn’t your first Exodus! I know you’re not planning on leaving today or if you are, you’re flying out with Larry. Help us get home quickly and safely please!!! Adding 3-12 unplanned to everyone’s commute because someone isn’t directing the log jam and someone is much more likely to fall asleep at the wheel on the long journey home. Isn’t it worth it? SAVE A BURNER; SOLVE THE EXODUS CHALLENGE.

Would like to echo Nomads comments at 5:19pm
Its hard to believe people want more rules. What is that saying “radical self reliance”? My camp purposely located out on “J” to avoid the noise. We also sought out the noise when the time was right. More kudos to the temple – it was the highlight this year. As far as darkwads go; slow down and you can see them in plenty of time, although wearing lights is advisable. My kids don’t go to the playa but I respect a parents right to bring theirs if they want to. And finally – what a blast! Thanks to everyone I met for another incredible BURN.

I’ll save the kudos for the people I talk to about the burn but here I want to ask if there is a way now or a better way in the future to be reunited with a misappropriated bike? Part of the beauty of burning man died a little for me with the realization of how many people take bikes that are not theirs and just trash them. I can’t find a place to try to track my bike down even though there is a good chance it was left behind by whoever took it.

I got put into the staging area for over 8 hours. The BM dick told me it was to teach me a lesson for showing up early. I drove 38 hours with one 3 hour break to get there, the audacity, and pomposity of the BM assholes in authority, totally revealed the charade of love . Sooo, I loaded every port-a-john with every manor of unauthorized trash, you know, to teach the BM folks a lesson. I then gifed myself 4 mountain bikes, to teach other burners a lesson. I tore a contact lens during the burn and briefly returned to my camp where I noticed my “Anarchist” neighbors camp were “pirating” ie. stealing, and robing from other camps. I would have told the authorities but I’m sure they were teaching someone a lesson. I now understand the meaning of Burning Man, to teach others a lesson.

just a quick reply to Wilburner (at 7:05p) — it’s not MY speed i’m worried about! i am always lit up and going at a very leisurely pace at night, if i ride at all. it’s the darkwads flying along with no concern that worry me! our camp was on 9:00, near Distrikt, and i lost count of how many darkwads we saw colliding into other people this year. i’m talking “over-the-handlebars” collisions. sure, every time, both people got up and rode off, but i’m guessing the next morning found them full of hurt.

This was my 1st burn ever. Overall I was very impressed with your handling of what could be considered overwhelming logistics. There were only 2 times where my wife and I had a hard time finding a port-a-potty. One was when we went to the platform area by the signal tower, near central camp in order to get a signal to send some emails (thank you for that by the way, a HUGE lifesaver). We couldn’t find any potties nearby. The other time was out on the playa, we looked but couldn’t see any within seeing distance. Maybe there were some but we just couldn’t spot them. Perhaps a big yellow flag or something might help spot them (during the day that is). The only other thing I can think of (other than being warned to not camp near Comfort and Joy because their music was on till 6am every night), is the lines to get in, and to get out – the influx, and the exodus. 5-7 hours in a line is brutal. I wish I had a suggestion to offer, other than get in on a camp with an early pass, or just come 2 days later.

First, thank you to all that worked long hard hours to bring BM to life! It is greatly appreciated. The only suggestion I have is to improve Exodus. Why is it that all the lanes merge into ONE lane within 100 feet? THIS is the cause of the crazy pile up where people have to wait 3-7 hours!!! The merging of lanes should come more gradual than that. If lanes merged at a longer distance, everyone (no matter what time they left) would not have to wait so long to leave the city. Thus creating other problems like people switching lanes, drivers falling asleep while waiting, etc. It’s ridiculous how much time people have to wait to leave. Even at peak hours like after the Temple burn, Monday morning, etc.

Sorry, my keyboard is on the fritz and sent the prior post without my having finished. The only other thing I could suggest, is to warn people thoroughly, repeatedly, of how much gas they will use up when waiting in the lines to get in, AND to get out. I know you warned people somewhere about filling up on your way in to BRC, but I don’t remember reading anything about how long we’d be in LINE, and to take into account how much gas JUST that would eat up. Waiting that long did eat up a lot of gas (and I didn’t idle the whole time either, I turned it off in between waits). I tanked up in Reno before coming in, but it would not have been enough to get out and to have made it to i.e. Nixon. I would’ve had to do the nightmare line in Gerlach or Empire on the way out. Thank God I went into Gerlach on the last Friday to fill up so as to not have to worry later. It was an extra $20 to do so but the peace of mind was worth it. The stop/go 5-hour ordeal on the way in Sun nite/Mon morn burned up way more gas than I’d expected. So people really either have to have a huge tank (mine is 17 gal which isn’t that small) AND fill up in Reno or after on the way in. Either that, or carry an extra couple full 5-gallon cans just in case. But if you’re limited on space, that isn’t always easy either. You really have to plan for potentially 5-7 hour lines on the way in, and the same on the way out, assuming you’re planning on arriving and leaving with everyone else, ergo plan accordingly for gas consumption. Other than that, I thought it was handled really well. There were way too many idiot campers that let way too much moop fly loose or left cans and bottles in the potties and what not, and I know your educational campaigns are thorough about these things. So I don’t have a suggestion for you there, except for to perhaps encourage us to hold not only ourselves but EACH OTHER accountable for doing the right thing and Leaving No Trace. Maybe a little reminder from the greeters on the way in, about how important it is that each burner respect the land, nature and the utilities too. I’d hate to turn the greeters into preachers but, it seems like the best point to give and make a last impression on each burner just before entering BRC, that the place, and the opportunity, are sacred, and conditional!
Oh, and I couldn’t find in the guide at what time exactly the Man was supposed to burn. Not sure if that was just me being lame or what. All in all, thank you for a wonderful, unforgettable 1st Burn!!!

First burn in ’03. Every year since one of the highlights is sitting fireside at the man embers and enjoy the primal drumming, contemplation, and festive atmosphere. This year, there was an art car that stayed for hours blasting pumping base so loud that I could still feel it in my chest two-thirds of the way back down 6 to Center camp. Needless to say the drum circles I have grown to love never stood a chance.

Oh well. two years ago it was the same thing but with music such at Tom Jones out blasting the drum circles.

Chris Kuhn . . . . I seriously hope you are kidding????? Personally I’d rather see the crowd be stoned rather than drunk. Unfortunately IMHO, law enforcement seems to be pushing the event in the alcohol direction.

Scotty Rocket . . . . What you saw was common but not ubiquitous with the DPW, might as well get used to it. I thought I would be grieving for my mother this year (did not happen Yaay!) I was standing next to defiant yelling DPW’ers at the temple burn, and guaranteed, it would have been very distressing. I felt bad for the people there who were there to genuinely grieve. They showed total lack or respect, but that is their trademark. One of them yelled out that this is their city, they built it and take it or leave it. That particular guy not only forgot about those mourning, but also that without ticket payers, there would be no city at all.

As to the comments on dogs being there, A few DPW folks are allowed to take their dogs there. I have heard there is some sort of qualification process.

A lot of the above comments are directed at people who “work” for the event. Please note that the vast majority of them are volunteers, and you might consider contributing your efforts next year to make it better.

Finally, there are many complex layers to putting on the Burning Man event, and lots of chaotic shit will happen, but the overall organization never fails to astonish.

It was an epic week, as always. I agree with most of the complaints about MOOP, etc., that folks have made here. Exodus did take way too long. We left at 4:15am on Monday and got to the road at 8:30am. We listened to some really terrible music and rambling interviews about pink bush and penises at 3am for way too long waiting for a traffic wait report and heard none. Maybe next year we’ll leave on Tuesday, too.
For me, the biggest downer of the whole event were the attitudes held by many of the veterans. I heard so many vets yelling at other people – SIT DOWN! TURN YOUR LIGHTS OFF! PICK THAT UP! Just really rude and uncalled for. Where did they get the right to treat others like that? It really ruined the vibe at the Temple Burn – as if someone standing down front is worse than some asshole screaming at them so the whole crowd can hear. A campmate of mine got elbowed and then reprimanded for wearing a heart-shaped antennae headband because it was ‘blocking his view’. Really? Of a several hundred foot tall structure? It was my fourth year, and the 3 virgins and 2 second-timers in my camp had some of the best attitudes I saw all week. I was seriously disappointed in the vets. That’s too bad; I lost a lot of respect for the community.
As for the people who want to ban kids, I think that’s terribly prejudiced. We left our little man at home with grandma, and it was really hard for me to be away from him for that long. I don’t plan on bringing him till he’s a bit older, but if we had an RV and maybe a little art car, I would bring him in a heartbeat. BRC is a big city with something for everyone. Obviously I wouldn’t have him out at the Temple of Boom in the middle of the night, but you can’t tell me that there is no place for him there. I love seeing the kids there, I know how amazing their upbringing must be, and since we MADE him there, he has a right to participate as well.
Everyone just needs to stop hating so much on others – and their experiences. We all have a right to participate, to have our own experience, and to be part of the community. We sure as hell don’t have a right to throw weight around and act like our personal ways of being are more correct than anyone else’s. I feel like it’s less becoming a culture of scarcity and more a culture of elitists, and that’s bullshit.
I hope that the JRS and the BM site can encourage people to approach the event with LOVE and open hearts – if you see a darkwad, give him a glowstick! Kids driving out with unsecured trash? Help them secure it! You were in line for hours on end – you had a chance to be proactive! Maybe adding “Radical Acceptance” to the list of values might help. Prejudices just have no place here – or at least I wish they didn’t.

As the human body has many entrances and exits, can’t Burning Man also have multiple ones? I totally appreciate the contrast of a 3 hour plus wait to get in and getting in an understand that it might overwhelm the camp with entrants but that time would be much better spent on the playa vs. burning hydrocarbons at the entrance. It WAS the most mellow gridlock I’ve ever been in though and kudso to the patience of the traffic controllers and greeters who braved the only white-out I think we had that week. Please negotiate with the BLM to get multiple entrances and exits going, especially if we’re going up to 60,000 next year, I flew right in at 5pm in 2010 but this year was three hours at the same time same day, and I know that was easy vs. other comments. It was the ONLY downer of the burn. Maybe an entrance that goes into 9pm and 2pm instead of all going into 6pm, you know some sort of DADV entrance set up or event SASV instead of all in one V, that hurts (unless you have loads of lube).

boooooooop booooooooooooooop boooooooooooop booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop booooooooooooooooooooooooop booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop )”(. just left the playa (it’s fuck off fryday)…….and i had the best fkn burn eva, as per fkn usual booooooooooooooooop booooooooooooooooooooooop booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop boooooooooooop booooooooooooop ,there was of course no delay in my exodus due to a long line because i stayed for clean-up…..booooop booooooooop thankyou once again boooop )”(

It was a wonderful burn and I am still dreaming about it every night. The wait to get in was a bit frustrating, we showed up late on Monday to try and miss the crowds, but it still took us until 10pm. The wasted gas for all was not good. But, when you have 55k+ people coming and going, there’s bound to be a lot of wait time. We left very early, so missed the problems on the way out. I was very impressed with the lack of MOOP around our camp area (J and 8:15). The folks who failed to light up themselves and their bikes were very scary…several near incidents. Overall, it was a great week.

Great exidus pulsing this year. Finally it was well controlled and maintained. Everyone moved equally…Move a mile, then get out and keep the party going for an hour. This went on for 6 hours on Monday morning, and it as all good….considering it was 6 hours.

A truly stellar year, which I much enjoyed. The only thing that I suggest changing is to have the drumming groups stand at the inner ring, with the fire dancer groups, and play out toward the crowd. The past couple of years, they stand closest to the crowd, in a group, and block the view of 1/3 of the people around the ring. It’s very frustrating, and definitely makes me feel cranky rather than groovy. That simple logistical change would really be appreciated – Thanks!

Great Weird ass burn as per specs. Same problems as always with greater frequency probably due to uneducated folks. (First year i saw feces on the playa though) Burners just going to have to work harder and reach out, either pre-burn or on playa. Educate those who are screwing up. (Pee on the playa? Drunk guy can clean it up with his shirt!) Plenty of non-burners arrived, some found out they were Burners, plenty probably never changed at all. Radical Self Reliance was slack for sure during exodus with the accidents and trash. (nothing new). Poor Man, blew em’ up good. Also, hope the ticket server has a fresh tuneup when sales go bizonkers =/

It was a great burn. People fun and helpful throughout the playa. Alcohol seems to be the drug of choice. I have never seen a fight breakout with a bunch of pot smokers. I’ve seen dozens on alcohol. I witnessed several young men in their twenties walking around with liters of alcohol. Nearly every Ranger was professional and helpful but ONE. Short, fat homely Ranger chick near 6’00 on the night of the burn screaming obscenities to people bringing bikes inside the art car circle. How she was going to f*ck somebody up. Give somebody a badge and next they’ll want a gun. She was rude and ugly. Everyone who saw her knows who I’m talking about. The entrance was ridiculous. Volunteers standing around watching others work. 3 years ago it was smooth and efficient. If your supposed to be conscious about the environment then don’t let us burn 4 hours of gas! I saw a Prius with handicapped flag on the playa. A f*^king Prius! I’m bringing my handicapped cousin next year and cruisin’ in style in my 4runner. The Rangers are fantastic… Stop allowing motorized vehicles without any art. It’s getting ridiculous. Porta Johns clean and cleaned regularly. If you’ve got a generator…put a shroud over it.
The art was spectacular. The parties fun. Party cars exciting. Those of you who turn down a rider should be escorted from the site. Putting a flag on a golf cart doesn’t make it art. Did mention a Prius on the playa. Thanks to all the burners. CU next year.

It would be great to have some areas as non-smoking – the temple for example. People should have autonomy to ingest whatever substances they want (i.e. alcohol or other mood enhancers), but cigarette smoke, even in an open area within a close proximity, affects others. The dust is fairly hard on most people already. It’s just really disappointing that smoking is so endemic within BRC’s population.

Great city layout. Some theme camps weren’t easy to find and need better signs. No sign, no theme camp and no event listing next year. The temple was incredible, as were the fireworks. Ranger staff was really awesome as were medics and DPW. Really great art. Potable water delivery should be continued.

BMORG should look at some of the sound camps. 2 o’clock and esplanad was way over limit on volume and way under used, like in no one there everytime we came by. I don’t care if you blow your ear drums in the sound camp, but you shouldn’t be over whelmed 2 streets away.

LEO presence in our are was nearly nonexistent. Must have been targeting trouble spots more this year.

We left after the burn on Sat night and were on the highway in way less than an hour.

my first burn was an awesome experience definitely will come back again, couldn’t believe how open and friendly everyone was its almost a shame it has to ever end, agreed I was surprised at the amount of moop on exodus, but during the event i saw a nice man picking up moop on the trash fence kudos to him. wonderful burns the trojan horse was spectacular

It’s nice to see the BRC community extended into the suggestion box. Good suggestions for managing problems: carry extra light sticks! Use the time during exodus to help others secure their loads!

Greeters ran out of guides by Thursday evening. The two of us were each given a guide on Monday and forgot to use them much, which is sad because they are so excellent! Suggest one guide per car unless occupants aren’t camping together.

We found 98% of people to be very considerate. Did run into one despondent dude whose lovingly decorated artbike was stolen while he was relieving himself in the potties. It is hard to understand how that could happen. Loved the Beacon, I vow to read it during the week next year, instead of on the way home. I learned a bunch of stuff that would have been helpful: really? drinking absinthe in the belly of the Trojan Horse–seriously that’s cool.
El Pulpo Mechanico reminded me that the real beauty of BM for me is the development of art for art’s sake.

So there are the guiding principles. It feels to me that there are about 60% of people who are interested in the experiment, and about 40% of people who are there for a week long rave. Somehow, the two groups are able to interact pretty well, but there exists the friction that arises from difference of opinion and goals. Negotiating those differences brings great life lessons. Regarding MOOP: there seemed to be less moop on the playa this year than last.
Lastly, we left right after the temple burn, around 10:45. We were out in 40 minutes and all lanes were in place at that time. The dust was pretty horrific to navigate in the dark, but all drivers moved carefully and steadily. Perhaps some reminder in the guide or tip sheet about the multiplicity of lanes might help prevent the single lane incident and resulting back up.
Love and Light.

What Pet Cathy said!! Voted Best Camp and camping with Gigsville are helping keep me alive on the playa! Not everyone goes for the stupid raves and bad beats – help protect the non-bass crowd a little bit better. Some of us are are anarchist prankster punk rock bike love, and your city planning needs to help us stay alive! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE move the big DJ camps OUT, instead of in. I think you would be amazed at how that simple planning move would foster an even better playa culture!

Pet Cathy Says:

September 9th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Ban all Segways and motorized (electric or gas powered) personal transport except for the disabled. Seriously.

Move all the big DJ camps to deep playa similar to pre-1997.

Or at least give Voted Best Camp a bigger buffer from all the crappy DJ camps so all us old schoolers can enjoy some punk rock without the interference.

This was my first burn at age 65 and I was part of the Rhythm Wave troop. It turned out to be, so far, a life altering experience and the culmination of all my spiritual, psychological and physical work thus far in my life. I re-integrated all the energies from the 60’s and 70’s. Our group was loving and supportive and as a trained dancer, I found the programs to be fabulous and stimulating. I participated in as much of the playa experience as I could but also felt free to honor my age and be “home” in my tent listening to great drumming and jazz all around me as I drifted off to sleep at 12 or 1 AM.

What an incredible week (my 9th burn). I loved the new 15/45 streets. The size of the city seemed “right”.

The neighborhoods seemed more integrated with the theme camps. We had great neighbors on all sides who stopped by for coffee in the mornings and often stayed for hours in “grandma’s living room.”

I worked 3 ranger shifts with Shiny Pennies – great experience.

The porta-johns need to be cleaned more often – the ones on 9:00 out between H and I were awful most days, most times.

Exodus was 7 hours for us – longest ever – but we caravanned with other camp vehicles and had a wonderful time.

Thanks for the best week of my year!

Big
AKA Ranger Brother

PS. The Dubstep really is getting old… but I guess enough people are into it to keep it going. Fortunately, we had SK8 Camp across the street playing 90’s post punk grunge – a welcome respite from the dull dubstep emanating from the nearby sound camps.

My 9th burn (I skipped a few), and my first in 3 years. My only real criticism is the length of time it took to get in. 5 hours is just stupid. Leaving, I get it. Coming, I don’t. I have never had to wait more than an hour before. More lanes and more ticket takers are needed. Don’t make people wait when they are beyond anxious to get in.. waiting to get out kinda sucks, but can be avoided if timed right, and you can’t control when people leave.

Otherwise, a brilliant, fantastic burn, even if the Trojan Horse did upstage the Man burn.

1) Theme camps should be limited in size and should not be able to monopolize entire blocks. We arrived at 6 am on Monday and although there was a lot of space on streets A-F, it was already blocked off by theme camps.
2) There was a different feel this year and some people were downright mean. Yelling at others for being “darktards” instead of offering their own glow, yelling at people from art cars who were sitting at camp enjoying a drink calling them “lazy”, too many people who see Burning Man as only a giant party and did not get the other (better) aspects of BRC. Again, dont’ know how that could be monitored.
3) Crass theme camps targeted at women who were not celebrating sexuality but exploiting it (*cough cough* Sore Nipple Camp *cough cough*). Sure, some people may want to go into your private room for an inner thigh massage and that is great, but harrassing women over a loud speaker as they walk down the street is in poor taste.

I know that all sounds negative, but those were my only gripes. Everyhting else was wonderful! And it was my best Burn yet out of 4. The Temple was phenominal, all three major Burns were breath taking, the potties were clean and stocked with TP, I met some inspiring and amazing people and had a blast. I think many of the problems are just from the sheer size of the event now, but cities are growing, changing organisms and BRC is no exception )'(

After eight (8) years of coming to Burning Man, in so many respects this was the greatest and best burn ever! It seems almost wrong to make any critical comments about BM after experiencing such a great burn, but my comments are being to make an already great event even better, so why not strive for perfection?

Over the years, it has become apparent to me that many of the problems and consistent complaints stem from one reason and one reason only; attendees who do not embrace the 10 principles of BM. And overwhelmingly, my experience has been that the attendees who most fail in that regard are the young ravers. These are attendees whose only or primary purpose in coming to BM is to party/rave/dance/drug or hook-up, or a combo of the same. For example, we had two young ladies camping next to us who spent their entire days sleeping and only went out at night to rave and party. When asked about the art, they said they cared less, but were looking forward to burn night. They left after the burning of the man and left three boxes of garbage behind as a gift to the playa (or DPW, or BLM, or us… who knows).

The cure in 4 easy steps:

1) Eliminate or severely limit the existence of sound camps. This is Burning Man, not Raving Man. There is a huge rave gathering in Las Vegas every year, they have their event.
2) Raise ticket prices, substantially. Poor party kids need not apply. I have no problem paying more to offset costs for; BMORG to fund more art grants and discounted or free tickets for substantial volunteers, artists, and infrastructure support, BLM to clean-up the area surrounding the playa after us, increased servicing of the porta-potties (there was a noticable letdown in porta-pottie maintenance this year), and/or increased watering of the streets (there was a noticable letdown in dust abatement, especially on the ingress/egress road and the spoke lines).
3) Limit ticket sales to 40,000 or 45,000 attendees. 50K plus attendees appears to be too great a strain on the playa and Hwy 447. Point 2, the raising ticket prices, may cure this issue by natural selection.
4) Eliminate the “weekender” factor by closing the gates on Wednesday at midnight. If your ass is not in the cue and off Hwy 447 by 12:01 on Thursday, you don’t get in…period. Reentry prices should be upped (to say $40 or $50 bucks), and reentry privileges should be restricted to demonstrated necessity and to early entrant volunteers only.

Lastly (and I would love it if BMORG made this rule), no art cars allowed on playa from one hour before sunset on Sunday night- temple burn night.
If you want to see the temple burn, participants need to walk or ride their bikes (but leave bikes at least 100 yards from the perimeter). Additionally, if you have an art car you must park no closer than 100 yards from the perimeter of the burning of the man, but, if you have an art car you MUST bring it to the burning of the man. I think art cars are an intergral and important part of the celebratory nature of the burning of the man, but they are clearly a distraction and disruption to the soluminary nature of the burning of the temple. Many people watch the burning of the temple from far off or deep into the playa, and art cars block the view of the temple for those who choose to watch the temple burn from a distance. Other than people sitting or standing before the temple burn, anyone should be able to clearly see the temple burn from anywhere on the playa or the Esplanade… IMHO.

Buttswami Fur Alligator,
I know my ppl would totally agree with your solutions, money is not our issue. I have been watching because I have really thought about putting together this adventure next year. I just do not like the neg comments that I believe to be true, true/REAL folks have no reason to lie….

This is coming from a person and the ppl involved say that we are truly ok with whatever decision I make. I have talked to others that and they say, Ron we would not be ok with some of these negs either. All of us, in our crew have said we believe what you have told us and will go with your thoughts. Some of the things I am hearing are not, ok in my mind or other ppl in our bunch, it definitely sounds like the minority is F$%^ing up a good thing.

Peace and still watching and want to know more about this. The final decision does not have to be made for a few months. The biggest question is how is BMORG going to handle the growth and not push away the ones that truly want this. More importantly, we would want to come, experience what sounds like a wonderful one, and enjoy playing without the problem children/issues.

Ron

PS. I am not naive about issues at any festival but a few of these issues needs to be figured out sooner than later. I just understand what it takes to have a grateful time at any music/arts festival.

Love the burn! Love the Love! New-bies and Oldies, everyone was in such good form – thank you Mother Nature for taking good care of us all !
One HUGE note – had a surprise menstrual time – it was a grand dissapointment that the medical tents only were allowed to hand out one or two tampons… yikes !
I heard there was a camp called “whoopsie” for those that didn’t have supplies – ’twas a rumor – but I had a dang good bike ride looking for the place! Thank goodness for insightful ladies that bring extra!
I’m deeply inspired to bring cases of pads and tampons and create a red tent.
Yea, the Moop on the highway was a bummer to see, but inspired me again to make an art car, or some something with all that interesting stuff! After all – art is what you make it!

For us Early Arriving volunteers, getting ice was extremely difficult. Pre-event Ice sales were only at center camp from 12-3. We were camped way out at 3 and G, our work shifts ran until after two and the lines were long. We were only able to buy ice one time before Cube3 opened. That entailed a 1 hour and 45 minute wait in line in the hot sun. We were able to buy ice at 2:59:30 – seconds before it closed. Behind us a long line of disappointed burners. We ended up buying extra ice and giving away what we could.
Please accommodate those of us who come early to help set up the city.

Also a bit tiresome was the “radical self entitlement” demonstrated by our neighbors. A large group of 20-something newbies, continually encroached on our theme camp boundary, and placed their loud sound dome right on the line adjacent to our sleeping area instead of within their camp. They then decided it was really funny to get drunk and fire up the megaphone and shout at passersby. They continually walked and rode their bikes right through our camp after we repeatedly asked them not to. They responded that BM was a public place and they could go wherever and do whatever they wanted. I was beginning to feel a real distaste for virgins, but then I met some truly delightful ones who restored my faith in humanity.
As far as the loud sound problem went, I did ask a passing ranger what our options were. He said they mostly address the problem at night. Since we were camping in the “suburbs” I felt that the loud bass music was really out of place. It would be nice if the rangers did do a bit more as a third party to help the situation. Confronting a group of drunk and aggressive youths was a bit intimidating and didn’t feel safe to do on my own.

It is morons like this jerk who are ruining everything good that Burning Man stands for. The idea that “getting even” with anyone is a fruitful and satisfactory pursuit or accomplishes anything other than more misery and unhappiness is a notion that I had thought obsolete in feudal times.
The very concept that stealing four innocent individuals’ bikes will in any way “even the score” with an officer of the law or anyone else for that matter is simply retarded.
Perhaps the BM “dick” (whether an agent of the the law or a Burning Man volunteer/employee) sensed this guy’s disabled, retarded vibes and detained him because of it! Too bad he/she did not have the authority, opportunity or whatever to bar this idiot from entry or from ever returning.

It was amazing as always. Many of us were wishing that the art was more spread out such that the inner playa was less crowded and more action out and about. If soil conditions are similar next year that would be my personal wish. Keep up the joy, love, and creativity. Thank you!

I am a veteran 12 year Burner. I gotta tell ya, this Exodus was the WORST I have EVER experienced, SO bad, it makes me NOT want to go to the Burn again. OVER 6 HOURS on Monday. The other thing that CANNOT be allowed.. F*cking TOUR BUSES? Seriously? are you kidding me? I literally saw 2 tour buses with 60 year olds in Hawaiian shirts and shorts with SLR cameras around their neck. WTF??! SERIOUSLY? What has this event turned into. HORRIBLE, disgusting. AWFUL!.

On a positive note, the porta-potties were EXCELLENT this year. The guys handling the waste this year, seriously need a gold star.. Best year EVER for keeping the porta-potties clean!!

It was an epic burn. I felt that the gate procedure was fast and to the point, as was the dmv procedure. As the city spreads out, toilets become more of an issue to travel to. My suggestion is perhaps it would bemore effective to split each bank in half and put them in twice the locations.

I didn’t really know what to expect before I got there – my girlfriend and I have been trying to go for years and the stars alined this year. I was really taken by surprise the first time someone said “welcome home” (in a good way!) All I can say is I never felt so welcome by strangers – or had so much fun sharing and being kind to others.

Some favorite happenings
1- I was standing by the love sculpture alone which caused lots of people to ask me to take their picture. One guy in particular asked me to take a few. While I was setting up the shot he proposed to his girlfriend! I happened to have 3 cold beers in my pack, so I could toast to them. It was a great moment.

2- The most incredible “corner bar” popped up on 8:00 & J… the first night it was empty, but by the end of the week everyone in the neighborhood was bringing stuff over to make drinks with. Tang-quila is awesome!

3- I got major enjoyment from having extra snacks and drinks to give away when people were hungry. I Especially enjoyed inviting our neighbors over for dinner.

4- That fire octopus was freaking incredible, and that pair of teeth cart looked amazing all lite up at night. I really loved a lot of the art cars.

5- I’m so thankful for sweaty betty’s emergency hair wash… I met a lot of great people there and the wash was so nice. I also loved hanging out at the muscle beach rings. The services and events some of the camps provided were truly humbling. People brought the things they like to do best with them. It’s really refreshing and inspiring. I hope to manage a little neighborhood coffee spot next year. :)

6- the port-a-potties were amazingly serviced, and the streets seemed amazingly clean. I was so happy to see no garbage cans (I think that’s crucial) I’m so proud of (most) people for taking care of their own moop. Seriously… we’ve all been to a county fair and seen how gross the masses can be… I was extremely proud.

7- this might be obvious, but damn are there a lot of sexy burners in BRC or what?!? This gathering is a fine looking group of people. I really loved the gear and get-ups people dressed up with. Awesome!

Alright – that’s all from this (no longer) virgin.
Hope everyone had a great burn! See you next year!

BRC!
This was my first burn this year, and I was waiting and waiting in anticipation. My expectations were so built up and all my hopes were riding on this trip. It was better than I expected. No amount of pictures and stories from burners could have prepared me for the overwhelming sense of community, love, and beauty that I experienced out at Black Rock. Thank you to every single freak I met and hugged and enjoyed…which was everyone I met.
Love, love, love
Melanie

Zulu G is clearly a jackass. However he is a jackass with a point. Are you hearing this nonsense? Although, the staging lot is somewhat antiquated in its efficacy … once the gate opens, since we all know that the staging lot is there to simply take more cars off the main road, how about we stop being jackass punishers and empty the staging lot first. First come, first served.

Gate: People who tear your tickets and search your vehicle for people and guns. They actually have a Job, and a very dangerous and difficult one. They are the buffers between Black Rock citizens and Law Enforcement and follow complex protocol to ensure that 50,000 people enter and exit the city safely and fairly.

Last week was my first time, and I’m so impressed with what you folks have created. Thank you! And since I’ve only been once, take my thoughts below with a grain of salt…

That said, I totally agree with the earlier comment,”setup generator-free zones. Anyone who sets up a generator within 100-feet (or more) of these areas must shield it.”

I totally agree with “Maybe also limit the size of an area someone can “reserve” with flags or better yet, ban “flagging” altogether!”

I read last week’s Wall Street Journal’s writeup on the wealthy ‘buying’ the experience, and I do think that that’s not a good development. Too many rules is always bad, but wouldn’t it be fun to have a rule, “No RVs/fifth-wheelers longer than 30 feet, unless they are at least ten years old.” Bottom line: I don’t see how folks sitting in $300,000 RVs are adding to the experience.

Yeah – traffic in and out sucked. Do what you can to keep vehicles from crawling forward at 2 miles an hour – kills the earth, and their engines.

Critical tits bike ride: I think it hurts the BM experience. Draws the wrong type of guy to BM. (I had heard about this years back, and it was one of the reasons that I had discounted the event…) Yeah, it may be a tradition, but it might be more important to protect what BM stands for…

Last thought – I read every comment before posting. What a smart, considerate group of posters.

The excessive presence of police, detaining arriving burners and searching cars with their sniffer dogs, together with the heavy sexual presence of graphical, often kinky sexual displays, cast a dark shadow over my experience.

I feel that the sexually oriented camps and events should be set in their own zone, as they are in many cities with red light districts. To promote Burning Man as a family friendly place and offer a kids camp but still have sexually provocative images and messages spread everywhere is irresponsible. And even if we no stopped allowing kids, I feel feel the sexual expressions should be placed together. They detract from the art and the spirit of giving. Many were simplistic, kinky and adolescent. They cheapen the atmosphere to one of indiscriminate indulgence and are inconsistent with the spirituality that Burning Man represents.

Too many police and too many offers for bondage/spanking/S&M left me feeling depressed and vulnerable.

It is amazing how much LED has changed the look of BM in a good way. The city was gorgeous! However, this was the first time I experienced gridlock on the playa due to too many art cars. Don’t get me wrong, I love art cars, but perhaps now that the city is so massive the art car numbers should be regulated. It also made the sound pollution a bit overwhelming… not every art car has to have booming music. I miss the ones you could sit and talk with strangers in without having to yell.

This year was my second, last year was my first and I definitely had an amazing time. I think a lot our having a good time had to do with preparation. My bf Sunshine and I brought a virgin couple with us and they had a fantastic time as well.

Here’s how we made our time great:
1. We volunteered for a Monday shift so we could get early entry and didnt have to wait in line..got a great space and set up early.
2. Read, read, read everything…entire first timers guide, prep, all jack rabbit speaks…this event means so much to me, so I take the time to see whats going on before I get out there
3. Made sure to camp away from big sound (i.e. 2 and 10 o’clock) also i found that the porta potties near big sound and esplanade were way worse than the ones in middle and G aka suburbia
4.I also found the loud art cars after the temple burn too loud for my mood so my love and I wandered the quiet of the deep playa Sunday night and had a great time.
5.Last year at exodus we left at 6am and that was enough time to beat the line…this year we left at 4am and still waited for 3.5 hours but its wasn’t that bad. Maybe we will leave after temple burn next year?

It will be interesting to see what happens with the future of the event. I had the pleasure last year of camping with long time burner Dutchy and his camp Hammock Hangout…

There I met Brian Doherty and Im now reading his awesome book “This Is Burning Man”. Its great to see where the event started and how its come along…

For me the biggest lessons I learned on the playa were surrender and acceptance…its easy to accept people like us but so very hard to accept those that are different. I tried my best to accept everyone…hey if you want to hire a private jet and fly in, stay in an RV with a bike and a segway, more power to you. As long as what you are doing isn’t hurting anyone, then please do the burn how you will but please follow the 10 principales as a min effort?

I think there are some great suggestions here: ie Elaine’s red light district, someone also suggested no art cars at temple burn…maybe they can be there but without sound>>>

We started locking our bikes religiously on Tuesday(Tuesday’s the new Friday) such a shame about stolen bikes…also heard about a camp that stole a green bike and were repainting it (said people were taken care of by rangers i believe)

jeez its pretty hard to say how to make it better in an environment such as this in the wild west, but after this long winded comment I just thank God Burning Man exists. Its the only place on earth I feel at home and I just pray it continues in some form.

Another great event, my13th, 7with Greeters, the Core Project was a great addition to the program, never too much fire. The fire works were spactular this yr. As usual the organization did a great job especially with the larger crowd.

6th burn. Wonderful experience as usual. I mooped the playa on Monday and found mostly cigarette butts, pieces of feather, and glow sticks. Saw way less police presence than last year.

The only bad: Exodus. I left on Tuesday to avoid it. A friend who left Sunday reported that it was a war zone off and on pavement, with accidents everywhere, rigs stuck in the ditches, and lots of people out of gas. There was a particularly bad crash on Tuesday, and we heard on BMIR lots of incidents on Monday. Exhausted drivers in a hurry to get out equals certain carnage and it is heartbreaking after such a wonderful week. I would like to see an accident report and I would dearly like BMORG to improve signage and add facilities for safe pullovers on 447. It’s only going to get worse as the event grows and it is our collective responsibility to keep people safe on their entrance and departure. I’m willing to help make that happen.

During my 12 years attending Burning Man, on several occasions burners traveling to or from Black Rock City along highway 447 between Wadsworth and Empire have been seriously injured and/or died in multiple-vehicle accidents and head-on collisions. Sadly, I have stood next a fellow burner’s body and witnessed rangers assist life flight paramedics load gravely injured patients into helicopters.

I believe the quickest method to shut down the event will be for some locals to die outside of BRC because of some idiot burner’s driving. This year I witnessed 3 extremely close calls all within only 30 minutes which would have involved multiple vehicles and unquestionably resulted in serious injuries or fatalities to burners and/or locals. This is only my story…undoubtedly there are others.

Sure, we all know two-lane highways are notoriously dangerous. However, the stretch between Wadsworth and Empire is especially dangerous during Burning Man and Exodus. Why? Please read on.

This year while traveling to Black Rock City, I witnessed a very close near-head-on collision. We were traveling northbound on 447 in an endless convoy of burners holding a steady 55 mph. All along the way since the Pyramid Lake overlook several drivers were jockeying for position like it was NASCAR. After they played a ridiculous round of 447 leap-frog (passing someone, only to be passed by them) most of the drivers began to settle down and drive a steady 55 mph. As any veteran burner will tell you, this is top speed on highway 447 during the main event. As we approached the town of Empire, I began to notice in my side mirror a new round of vehicles leapfrogging up the convoy. As we neared Empire, still a solid 10 miles out, behind me I witnessed a VW bus attempting to pass another vehicle already traveling 55 mph and was lagging out there in the passing lane for a solid minute or two! Eventually an oncoming local’s car approached from the north and the VW bus didn’t yield in time. The oncoming vehicle began to sharply brake and drive off the road onto the steep shoulder, dust began to fly, and the small commuter car began to lien hard to the right, almost rolling over to it’s right side. The VW bus finally passed and got over. As the oncoming local’s car reentered the road at speed it nearly lost control and drove head on into the convoy of burners!

Not a minute after the VW bus driver completed their idiotic pass they obliviously attempted to pass me while I was going a steady 55 and had another 20 cars ahead of me traveling the same speed! I was BEYOND livid. Minutes after the near head-on collision I saw 2 cars attempting to pass nearly 15 cars in the endless convoy also traveling a steady speed of 55 mph. At the last minute, a third car pulled out to pass and appeared to not see the cars passing, almost sideswiping the the lead car. Now there were 3 cars bumper to bumper passing 10 cars until the next open slot. Lunacy!!!

A few minutes after passing me and entering Empire the entire convoy came to an abrupt stop for 20-30 minutes due Gerlach running out of gas. When many drivers got out of their vehicles, I attempted to calmly speak with the VW bus driver and discovered she was completely oblivious to the local’s car almost driving off the road and colliding w/ the convoy. I attempted to speak with the VW bus passenger who had switched to the driver’s position and she said “Oh, but we’re AHEAD of you.” Maybe she already had her own words with the driver; I don’t know. Surely, this is not how I had hoped to begin my burn. Semi-regretfully I didn’t flag down the Highway Patrol officers that slowly drove by us.

After years of dealing with drivers like this I find myself loosing my tolerance for the idiot, selfish burners endangering others lives. It is my only serious complaint about Burning Man. When burners hit the pavement they turn off their brains and their courtesy. Highway 447 is not the 405 in LA, nor is it Oakland 880. As an extreme athlete and former professional driver, I can factually tell you SPEED KILLS. And it will do so most efficiently on skinny two-lane roads with convoys of tired burners driving overloaded oversized vehicles all in an oblivious hurry futilely attempting to get somewhere faster than the person in front of them.

Ultimately, passing on highway 447 will be the one of the most dangerous activities we participate at Burning Man. Have you ever noticed when no one is passing everybody is chill? Then when one car passes, their “sheep gene” kicks in and all the drivers then want to pass. Bottomline….please don’t pass unless someone is going extremely slow (below 40 mph) for several miles and it is absolutely safe. Please do not pass while in large convoys of RVs unless they are averaging 40 mph or below and you absolutely must pass. If they are traveling 45-55 mph or faster, PLEASE DO NOT PASS. I know it will be difficult for you to turn off your sheep gene when everyone else is doing it. However, PLEASE REALIZE you will just get behind another huge convoy of vehicles and only save yourself a max of 5-15 minutes while endangering everyone’s life out there. If you do choose to pass. Please have your headlights on, look in your mirrors so you don’t collide with some who’s already passing. Please pass ONLY in the designated passing zones when it is safe and clear. Please DO NOT PASS in multiple car passing convoys; only one car at a time. The lead car may cut it too close and then the middle vehicles are stuck driving head on into oncoming traffic. Please DO NOT PASS when it’s cutting it close to oncoming traffic. Please be patient, try to enjoy the scenery and drive safe. Trying to save 5-15 minutes is not worth your life or someone else’s. Waiting for 4 hours for your fellow burners to get life-flighted out will not save you time. We are all trying to get to the same place. Please just chill and enjoy the journey!

Please consider my message an important gift by sharing it with your fellow burners. It could save their life, a neighbor’s, or a Gerlach local’s as well as help the BMorg avoid major lawsuits and BLM permit loss. Realistically, in most communities preventive steps only occur AFTER a tragic accident. Please don’t let it come to that. We build this amazing city every year and collectively we have the capacity and intellect to prevent this BEFORE another tragic accident occurs. If we don’t talk about this, the perfect storm of vehicle accidents is inevitable.

How do I start giving feedback on the most significant and amazing time of my life, but to start with THANK YOU. Thank you to everyone who was a part of this exciting, life changing, and magical city that is created out of the dust, the city that I now call HOME. This was my first burn and every experience I had from dancing until dawn and including exodus was a life changing moment…yes, it was a long wait getting out, but well worth it, all that positive energy permeating in the air, meeting good souls that I would not have encountered had we not been stopped in line. I gave a stick of butter to a young man who had been asking cars ahead of me 4 hours into our 8 hour exit, he returns 30mins later with his friends bearing Mac & Cheese for everyone in my RV made out of the butter I gave him, good people everywhere. Two guys where walking to camp Sat night and could not see the street signs so I gave them one of my flash lights, the smiles on their faces were priceless. I took a very messed up stranger back to his camp, he had been asking others for help at the pot a potty’s with no luck, he could not have been more grateful. I gave a young lady a drink of water in the deep playa that was so grateful and dehydrated she cried, yes, I could have let my default world attitude kick in but it was stripped of me as I rang the bell at the gate Sunday night, I am forever changed and forever a better man because on my time at HOME, excited for my new experiences as a burner, and loving life more now than ever. I know that Burning Man will continue to evolve but for now I am thankful for everything that is done to create our HOME once a year and look forward to seeing what amazement you will give us in 2012. My feedback to everyone is, HOME is the best place on earth, be happy and appreciative that we have a place to go HOME to.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU
Namaste

RC
This is some serious BS, I and do not care whom thinks of me differently. I would not deal or even adventure into any thing like this. I KNOW me and and anybody that would come out there in our crew would say, WTF, WTF. I know you multiple burners would disagree, but seriously the real PPL looking on, not my nor any other ppl I know or associate with would say this is NOT OK. I feel this would be a wonderful time, but why if I had to put any of our crew in jeporidy(sp) I would be the one that that has to feel the NOT OK, OF ANY OF THIS. Right now and it is ok in my mind, I would have feel responsible to if somebody that did not come home. Good luck burners. You all do not need me or any other of the people that we would bring. It sounds like people put up with way to much BS for people that would want to be there for a wonderful time. BTW the only way I would organize this is if I WAS FLIYNG IN AND FLYING OUT. Then we could have a way out if the BS is more than……. Control is not the issue. Just read my prior post. We have way better friends and more class than what has been put here. Tell me to go away, guess what I/we are ok with this.. It just SUX that the…. have put a serious damper in our which we are real peoples life that really wanted/thought about this adventure. RCs comments are valid and I know If I and he/she were to sit down we would get along just fine. Please read my previous comments. I am sorry but good luck at BM unless…. I have no interest in this anymore when I know our crew would be just fine in this environment.

Peace,

RC maybe one day in this world we can sit down and play like we know older people can play. To me other than our players nothing would be out of the ordinary. There are no issues amonst our friends even if we were to get them together.:) This is a big deal to me. I love your honestly because real people have no reason to lie about anything….

Amazing, life-altering first burn filled with spiritual moments. A few thoughts – The RVs really detract – could they be marginalized, especially the rich folk who rolled in an played burner for 12 hours? Like if you don’t drive it, you don’t come, or x number per camp, or a permit stating the necessity, whatever? The dub step was pretty unrelenting and made it impossible to have other experiences – this to me goes against the spirit of self-expression -could there be a moment of OFF every 24 hrs? Mostly though a thousand thanks to all those who opened their arms, hearts, ladders, camps and souls to me!

Met some of the most wonderful old timers – in qty of burns AND in age. There’s some remarkable wisdom to be found in the city!!

Had some of the best neighbors ever!

Pulsing on exodus is great – wish there was some way to do it on entrance. Got caught in the horriffic exodus traffic Monday (80 closures, etc.) still didn’t take as long as entrance.

Was really disappointed at the number of ‘art’ cars that had nothing more than earth shattering/ear splitting sound systems. And none of them seemed to observe the 5 mph this year so lots more dust. I love the idea of moving the big sounds back out on the deep playa, or at least limiting them to the front blocks off the esplanade.

This year seemed much more of a party mentality; which I guess is going to happen – but I worry that if they’re only there to party, they’re going to screw up the other reasons some of the rest of us are there.

Do these first timers read the guide at all?!! I’ve never seem so much garbage – not just moop – but garbage on the streets. Out on the highway was even worse! if I were a local resident, this year would make me question why they let us come.

This trip made me much more aware of how I want to contribute more–stay longer, bring extra garbage bags and clean up after the slobs that shouldn’t be there in the first place. Still finding ways to make life simpler (not easier) while I’m there.

This was my second burn and I thought it was 10x better than last year’s. Saw a guy get laid out twice at Temple of Boom. Guy had it coming to him. He was pushing on everybody(including girls), flipping people off, and even headbutted a guy who didn’t even retaliate afterwards. The second time he got knocked out he didn’t move for 10 minutes. Wish there was more police around to take care of him instead of people taking matters in their own hands. I also hate it when people are rude in asking others to sit down at the larger burns. Last year, I saw an old man getting lasered in the eyes for standing until he sat. I didn’t really care if I stood or sat since we got there late and understood it was a consequence of poor planning. I get to the burns early now to avoid this, but at the horse burn there was really tall people in first 3 rows standing. I think if you get that close you should have to sit. Asked them nicely to sit and they were extremely rude about it. Got there early for the fireworks show on Thursday and was in the second row sitting. The spinning sparkly fireworks near the ground and the tiny mushroom cloud explosions would not have been seen well by others if I was standing. It would be nice if BM volunteers would ask the people in the first 5 or so rows of people to sit down.

The only other negative experience I had was at the ticket station. A man appeared to tear the stub off my friend’s and my ticket. In our tired state we didn’t realize that he had taken one of the tickets. We were so worried that they were going to ask for it at the station where they give you the map and booklet. Thankfully they didn’t. Would have liked to have had it as a souvenir, but at least another soul got to witness the best event on Earth. Can’t wait until next year. Gonna try and drag my folks out to it.

Was fantastic first time back in 3 years Burns were great a lot of people were great BUT I remember being a virgin 4 years ago taking to a lot of the oldtimers the Dubstep was starting to be heard more its nothing more than rap crap with a beat we all said back then it will bring in the problems and this year I do agree it seems every ware it goes it brings the thugs the drugs and voilence ! There was more moop than ive ever seen more rowdy people crazy drivers on the way in maybe its time for the BM staff to limit tickets further maybe at 35000 ??less than the BLM allows could bring it back to a more managable level ??

A fantastic burn as always. I found such balance sharing time with first timers, to 13 year veterans. I was impressed with both. Really the only negatives were what seemed to be a much larger than usual concentration of moop, and a few people talking rudely to me, assuming that because I am young, I am a first time burner. This was my 5th burn and truly the one where I found myself as a man and no longer a child. I
I enjoyed the variety this year. Sure, there was an overwhelming number of kids in furry hats, but in the long run they have a place in this world as well I was actually very pleased to see so many new art cars, and to hear many different flavors of music. I love dubstep but there have been night’s in past years where I have just craved variety and this year I really heard it.
The whole week was like a trip to some kind of amazing spa for me. I actually left feeling cleaned, rested, clarified, and refreshed. The weather was a delight. The playa itself was the firmest and most bikeable I’ve seen it in my 5 years. Granted I didn’t make it too far into the deep playa this year, but that happens. Every year I experience some different aspect of Burning Man.
The road sign stealing was the worst ever! As early as Thursday I was finding them missing. But I actually had a few comical moments of getting lost that were quite fun. I can remember being a first timer and feeling so vulnerable and lost without them. Now there is nowhere I’d rather not know my way around. I just stood there 6’4″ and giggled to myself when I realized I’d completely lost my bearings. Of course a stunning girl on bicycle unconfused me and I can still see her smile.
I am so excited to have finally made it into the yearbook! Maybe I am counting my chickens, but I took the pic, so at last I will be publicly immortalized in the Burning Man community.
Staying until Tuesday was AMAZING. I have always been forced to leave early in past years, but this time I was given complete autonomy as I went alone, and was able to leave at my leisure. To be honest my prime days were Sunday-Tues. Less rave, more the Burning Man that touches me. The temple ash sifting. Roasting of Marshmallow. Sleeping by a warm fire.
The pier was FANTASTIC! I’d like to thank the pair who wad fishing with bacon because it was wonderfully amusing, a real highlight of my week to behold.
I also would like to thank whoever did the true mirror thing on the playa. I felt my confidence pretty much soar from then on and everywhere I went I felt like a glowing being and that is my true self and it feels wonderful to be me!
Thanks to the wonderful greeters! I had a girl who was a virgin AND a greeter and that impressed the hell out of me. And then I got a second male greeter and both just pumped me up for the camp build. The line in was shorter than I’d expected so I have to thank them for keeping it moving.
I’m really excited to get preparing for next year. I’m anxious to know the theme but I now know it will resonate with me in some way whether I understand initially or not.
I am going to do my absolute best to get out there right after gate opens next year. I need MORE time. I wasnt set up til late Monday night. I think with each year that I go I will extend my stay. It may be time to finally really contribute to the Burning Man team somehow. I feel like I underwent a true right of passage myself and it is my time to really share as I have been shared with by the Burning Man every year since I was 21. I always do share in my own way but perhaps something that would make a larger impact or be more directly related to Burning Man Inc/
I cant believe someone above complained about marijuana smoke! I mean I can, I believe everything, but I did not experience this. As having grown up in California, your typical concert has far more marijuana smoke than I experienced at Burning Man. ANd it is a real shame! People can be wandering drunk all over the desert but not smoking their medicine?!?!? It’s actually one of the worst parts of being there! The constant paranoia over smoking what is a medical need for some of us.
I really hope the theme is something ludicrous next year. End of The World has been done by Britney Spears and is officially cliche. I love B don’t get me wrong but I think the Burning Man world should be about something a little more far-fetched. Maybe something like Fantasies of Grandeur, or Adaptation and Transformation.

There was a small group of assholes (near the front) that refused to sit during the burn despite multiple pleas and chants of ‘Please sit down’. Finally one of the thugs/morons spun around deliberately spraying the contents of his drink on those sitting around him. Despite his stupidity/hostility there was no response.

My first experience and it was soooooooo much more than I expected, absolutely amazing.

On the other hand, the wait to get in is UNACCEPTABLE. Waiting hours because one person is handling 3 lanes is not fair. Charge an extra USD 5-10 per ticket, get more staff and let these lanes move faster.

Burring Man is what you make of it, so much anger in some post, and what’s with the hate on dubstep, I’m 43 and never heard it before and danced until dawn every night to it, I went to bed at 7am and had sound cars drive by my camp and I started dancing in bed…it’s a week out of the year people ENJOY and be OPEN to and about everything that this amazing city has to offer. I never did anything to upset anyone, but I also understand that everyone is there to be free and enjoy their time at HOME and we need to respect our burning family.

ICE: maybe they should just sell Ice at center camp again since so many of you are asking for more outpost or maybe they can just set up your camp for you and deliver your ice to you everyday, LOL really?

RV’s: If you don’t like them you could always camp in walking camping or did you know it was even there.

Sound Camps: If you don’t like the sound camps, what they play or how load they are or that they play all night and day start one of your own, taking sound camps back to deep playa is crazy, camp on the last street if you want less sound, I did. I was on 3:20 and L and loved every min of my time everywhere in the city.

Burning Man is open to everyone being and having a part of the action. The Burning Man team does and OUTSTANING job in making this a place for EVERYONE, I guess you could always stay in the default world and not go if you hate it that much, right? I will be as open to coming HOME next year as I was this year on my first burn and if I have to wait 8 hours again to exit next year so what.

Love all of you and see you at HOME in 349 days :) remember be thankful we have a place to go HOME to. This is a great opportunity to express yourself, please don’t make it a bitch session. I love and enjoy all the positive post, thank you for sharing :)

While I understand the good will approach to encouraging local Indian tribe members to attend and participate on the playa, my experiences with them were less than positive this year. We had a few that were extremely intoxicated lurking around our camp. My LOCKED bike was stolen and in more than one instance, I saw pickup trucks leaving the playa with way more bikes in the back, then Indians in the front. Perhaps there is a better way to include and support local communities in a way that doesn’t jeopardize the personal property of those who actually embrace the standards put forth in the Survival Guide.

This was mine and my husbands first ever Burning Man. It was amazing and for once in my life I did not feel self conscious, but rather accepted and loved by all. This will forever be my true home as it is where my heart is <3 To all of the amazing peope I met I would like to thank you for the awesome memories and to all that I have yet to meet no matter what I love you all and I look forward to making memories with you too! Please believe in yourselves and know that the impossible is possible you just need faith!

My goodness…lurking drunken Indians stealing??? What century are we in for this type of sterotyping and bigotry? I met and had a great time w many Native Americans at BRC and in going in and out of Pyramid.

FYI…The Paiutes opened and let 50K+ people lurk through their reservation to get to Burning Man. Oh and do you remember something about this whole country once belonging to the Native Americans? Who was it again that stole it??

Evrita
Save your sanctimony. I’m not stereotyping: I witnessed it and I was a victim of it. You call me a bigot for being honest. Sorry I can’t hide behind your political correctness. I live with, and deal with Native Americans every day. I have worked on reservations for years and there are many natives I’m proud to call my friends. Those that came around my camp were extremely intoxicated and we suffered thievery while away from our camp; it’s not a great leap to put it together, unless your thought process is clouded by polyannic political correctness. I suppose I have to sensitive to the feelings and emotions of tweekers too…because, after all they’re just stealing to “improve” Their lives. I stole nothing from anyone, the highways we drive on belong to the State of Nevada and your “history lesson” is an invalid.

This was my first year and I can’t say enough about how wonderful it was. All the energy and creativity dedicated by the BMORG, volunteers and most participants was incredibly inspiring.

I encountered very few problems which is remarkable in such a large event, but I do have one suggestion. It seems that there is a fair amount of confusion over the rights/rules for non theme camp members to camp in the assigned theme camp areas. This led to an unpleasant confrontation between one of our theme camp members and some new arrivals on Wednesday. From one source I heard that non-members can camp in any open space as of Wed. 12:01 a.m. From another I heard that they had to ask permission from the theme camp. One of the commenters above felt that they should be able to camp in any open space they found starting on Monday. At this point, I don’t know what the rule is and it seems that many others are similarly confused. Anyway, some fine tuning on this point would be helpful.

Where do I begin?
To Scotty Rocket Says: ” Loud obnoxious, drunk DPW crew at Temple burn. These idiots should be banned!” THERE WOULDN’T BE A BURNING MAN WITH OUT DPW YOU IDIOT!
To mullingitover and The Lillie Pad: mullingitover believes that CS (child services) should be at the gate and confiscate your kids. What the Fucking Hell? Please don’t come back to my home where people accept people for their individuality and where people are expected to be self reliant, express their individuality and have a civic responsibility. Lillie Pad, you said, “You decide.” Okay, then mean it. Families should feel free to bring their children. Little kids aren’t comprehending the lyrics to the songs you mentioned. And older kids might be thinking, “sounds like fun!” or “Eeeeewwww!” It’s all about choice. Let individuals decide and keep their children with the babysitter at home eating fattening foods and watching daddy’s porn while mom and pops are at Burning Man if they want to. Are you going to tell me that I CANNOT bring my son who has suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, and if I do, Social Services will be at the Gate to take him away to an institution? This year MY SON AND I MADE the decision THAT HE STAY HOME. If and when HE and I decide he is ready to come back to his BLACK ROCK CITY HOME, HE WILL, and hopefully you will not have had any influence over the powers that be to effect EACH INDIVIDUALS DECISION to choose.

As I read through these comments, I wonder how many had read the survival guide let alone the 10 Principals of Burning Man.
For the most part, I’d like to say this: I didn’t meet the biting guy. Wish I had; I would have bit him back. Chris Kuhn – I didn’t see any of what you are talking about – you must be trippin’. 666isMoney – the flagged off areas are theme camps. Flagged off by DPW. Go camp somewhere else. You are not a theme camp. I arrived with an early arrival to paint a mural at Center Camp. The city generously provide a couple of swarths of camps to non-theme camps, and I appreciate that. Thanks. I’ve camped and volunteered with Lamplighters for three previous years and loved being able to camp close to some of my buddies. To Nomad: Watch out for the virtual holes too.

It is up to ALL OF US to maintain our city. Enforcing Leave no Trace, Self-Reliance, and Decommodification is OUR Civic Responsibility unless you want another Police State like you experience in default world. So…If you see that a child is being neglected report the incident to OUR Rangers. Please don’t go to BLM first. (Thankfully they will probably laugh at you if your complaint is about song lyrics.) I’ve met children who have been to far more Burns than I have, and they are wiser and more generous for it.

Regarding trash along the highway. I see it every year. I see it overflowing the barrels in Gerlach, Empire and Nixon too. The question should be… WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT? I’m considering a “Tie Down” camp. I heard there is already a Bondage Camp that offers our citizens lessons in tying down; I’d be happy to offer another one. Maybe at 6 o’clock and L or whatever the last letter happens to be next year. Still some will not take advantage of it (more than likely the ones who need it the most), so there should be some consequence for those who still dangerously litter the highway. Obvious problems like mattresses hanging off the back of trucks and vans pulling BIKE trailers, should be removed from the line by staff. I’ll suggest it to that division myself, and ask them if they could use my help by volunteering for a shift or two.

Furthermore, I found BMIR (Burning Man Informational Radio) to be helpfully in making a decision as to when to leave. I knew when I left at around 4:30 pm on Monday that I was going to experience a LONG EXODUS. I enjoyed every single minute of it. Wonderful Burners joined with Mama Playa to awe my daughter and I with a splendid sunset. Kites, many kites, dotted the crimson sky, a native american chant from the guys in the RV next to us permeated my soul. Then is was time to move again. Pulsing was back in effect after the back up caused by two accidents on the 80. I gifted a few jumps before MY battery light went on. I didn’t expect that, maybe I should have. My reaction to being stranded on the playa until Tuesday – late morning – FABULOUS! The stars, the sky, the playa asking me to stay one more day – like I usually do. It was my responsibility to have my car serviced (or service it myself) before I departed for Burning Man and then to check my fluids and air filter before getting in line to leave. I did, so I can rest assure that it wasn’t negligence on my part, even if it was possibly over-gifting. So sometimes when you plan to be Self-Reliant, you still aren’t and that’s when you see the community come to your aid with love rather than a scolding tone. Thank you to the many burners who saw my black ford ranger pulled off the Exodus Road – like the Pac Man Art Car – and offered assistance.

When I did break down, knowing that a jump was not going to get me going without the possibility of stalling on the highway (which would have been far more dangerous) I pushed my truck to the side before the next pulse began. I did not want to block traffic. It’s all a matter of being considerate of others. Sure, I was a little worried. Auto Club told me they “were no longer servicing Burning Man.” What to do?? Ask my daughter to call them back with her calming voice and ask again. Clarification “no longer servicing Burning Man THAT NIGHT.” OH, okay. We can wait till the morning after the tow truck driver gets some rest, no problem. Turns out the guy who towed us had been working around the clock, sometimes only getting a couple hours of sleep in between shifts.

I had no intention of over-taxing the small city of Gerlach with my automotive problems, but I did. The mechanic wasn’t over joyed to have to fix my truck. I understood and let him know that. I made every attempt I could to interact with the kind people of Gerlach. I mooped while I was there, adding more trash to my truck to take home where it wouldn’t overwhelm one small community. I answered their questions and talked with them about what I hoped I could do next year to help minimize the litter on the highway and overflowing their few trash cans behind the Shell station. I talked with them about their fears due to the closure of the Gypsum Mine and what that meant for their future.

Black Rock City is my home and I love it and love it’s citizens – new and veteran, young and old, we make this experience what it is. We take our trials and weigh them against our tribulations, and eventually understand that they are the same thing. I met many, many first time burners who just got right into the groove, gifting and mooping and laughing and consoling. I encountered some assholes, yep, yep. A guy I’ve seen every one of my 5 years out there who called me an old lady because I was in front of his speeding art car. Yep, a jerk! What can I do about it? I can report it to DMV – hopefully if I’m not the only one with a complaint, he will not be allowed out there again. And then there were the little Sparkle Ponies who arrived on Tuesday, six days after I had set up my camp and spewed carbon monoxide into my camp for 11 hours straight. Who should I call? Ghost Busters? No, and I won’t complain to Rangers either, they are busy looking for lost canaries and much, much more important stuff. I respectfully asked the ponies to help me come up with a solution to the problem and when one of them told me to “fucking deal with it; this is Burning Man.”, I told her that she had Burning Man mixed up with Default world where assholes fuck people over all the time for their own gain. So, I found some plywood and a couple of extra rebar stakes and funneled the fumes right back to their camp. Problem solved. Sit back and enjoy the view.

On the topic of Exodus, I broke down this year on my way onto the playa which didn’t help with getting in and left early to avoid pissing people off during Exodus. I think there should be a lane for broken down or decrepid vehicles as this for a fact slows down everyone who is baking in the heat trying to leave. Since broken vehicles cannot use the emergency lane (as they are not an emergency) I do think there should be a lane in place for those who are going to be holding others up.

This was my 5th burn (in a row) and for me it was the lonliest one. Since tickets sold out this year alot of the people I got to know from previous years couldn’t make it so I missed seeing them. I made a few new friends along the way but the vibe for me was very different this year. All vibes aside, still a good burn.

2011 virgin burner Fri-Mon. I read the online materials, including the survival guide, Jack Rabbit Speaks, and also BMIR. I also met and camped with a veteran burner. It was a good overall experience for sure.

I agree with most of the other posters about the evidently changing dynamics. I think a few things warrant minor zoning/timing changes (e.g. sound). The remaining things I think of as minor personal challenges for me to try and respond better to next time around. Before I get into my list, let me give kudos on a few things:

* Pre-game communications were very helpful
* Our greeter was awesome
* BRC design & layout is top-notch
* Porta Potty servicing was well above average
* Burns were phenomenal
* Exodus pulsing is good stuff
* Fantastic mix and variety of people–99% of which were super cool
* Almost zero experience or even awareness of “officials” (way it should be)

Now for my “personal challenge” list:

* More creativity in my apparel choices
* Extra comfortable gel seat for the bicycle
* Earplugs and over-the-counter are inadequate for me to sleep in a tent
* Hot tent was impossible for me to sleep in during the day (e.g. swamp cooler)
* Carry extra glowsticks for unlit bikers and pedestrians
* Don’t forget bike locks at camp
* Investigate, sign-up, and participate in more organized activities
* Prepare better for long exodus (e.g. water, food, and company)
* Try harder to ignore the obnoxious party ravers
* Purchase my ticket earlier to $ave

I think that is about it. Most of the things others complained about bugged me at least a little also, but I just don’t think there is much that can be done about it (stealing, young kids, perverts-at-large, inconsiderate sound, etc.).

– Eight burns since ’96 (covered it for the L.A. Times back in the day, then fell down the rabbit hole and never looked back – http://factoidlabs.com/portfolio/writing/bman_times.html)
– Five burns since ’05 with our son (now 11) and daughter (now 10)
– Second year with a major art installation (XyloVan)
– First year with a mutant vehicle (Xylovan–>JANUS)
– Residents of Kidsville
– Virgins hosted – numerous
– Art car passengers transported – too many to count
– Darkwads almost run over – too many to count. You can’t legislate common sense.
– Moop collected – too much to weigh.

Forget it, Jake, it’s Burning Man.

This year was, like all the years before it, the Best Ever, thanks to the massive creativity of the artists, the warmth and intelligence of the great number of burners we shared time with, and hell – the weather was pure butter.

From reading the entire thread, BM2011 also seems to have been the source of a huge amount of glowing compliments, anxious complaints and bitter rants – as it always is.

We hit exodus about an hour after the Temple burn, escaped to 447 two hours later, and vowed to repeat the schedule next year. It beats sweating through 7 hours of pulsing.

Regarding kids at Burning Man: To all the kid-haters and the would-be nannies who worry about their precious little sensibilities being ravaged by sex, drugs and rock’n’roll – settle the hell down.

Parents are responsible for their kids’ preparation and their experiences. The parents I know have this well in hand.

The vast majority of BRC’s smutty content and activities flew WAY over our kids’ heads the first two years, and anything that didn’t could be gently explained away as “grownups are weird” or “wow, looks like those people are really drunk.”

We gave them each the actual Birds ‘n’ Bees talk at a good age (I filled my son in atop a ziggurat at 4:30 and Esplanade in ’08) and afterward, we remained open to questions and discussions, and occasionally explained that, well, sometimes grownups do weird things in the name of sex. They get it, and they’ve moved on with that very understanding to enjoy the burn every single time.

They remain inquisitive and wise beyond their years, and after seeing them work (nearly) tirelessly alongside us to build, run and strike our camp and our mutant vehicle, they are the Best Burners Ever, and still declare BRC to be their Favorite Place on Earth.

Maid Marian and Larry Harvey have been on record from even before BM reached the playa as saying that kids and families have a place at Burning Man. Kidsville is now the largest village in BRC, with more than 2000 residents. We are raising all of our kids to be strong, self-reliant, creative, generous and resilient – and good Burners to boot.

Got a problem with ’em? Just think of them as little shirtcockers and look the other way.

Sound: To the haters of dubstep, sound camps and assholes – “radically inclusive” means you take what you might consider to be the bad with the good. Other people see it completely opposite and think everyone complaining about the noise is too old or lame.

BRC is NOT some precious paradise. It’s a chunk of the human race like any other – just one with the financial and technical wherewithal to assault your senses beyond the point of pain – and sometimes sprinkled with selfish jerks.

Example: I called out (rather gently) to two darkwads who strayed into the path of our vehicle one night (and would have been run over if I hadn’t been stone-cold sober with my foot covering the brakes), “Hey, get some lights on, friends. I can’t see you and I almost ran you down.” Their reply, a shouted “FUCK OFF!!!”

I had to shrug. Maybe they had gotten the message one time too many that night. Maybe next time they’ll at least put on a moop-y glow necklace and avoid being flattened by speeding bicyclists. Maybe they’ll be run over.

You do what you can to help those who need it, try not to infringe on anyone else’s right to have a good time, and pray that the universe will watch over the idiots – or at least that they’ll get a good spanking from Dr. Darwin, rather than a coffin.

Regarding noise camps – If you want to sleep, camp somewhere quiet (Kidsville rules in this regard, as does Hushville). Earplugs are cheap.

Regarding loud mutant vehicles – Welcome to Burning Man, kiddies. Our mutant vehicle had a very soft sound system since the mikes for our xylophones pick up and amplify all the noise around them, we keep it tuned low. A couple of times people ran up and said “Thank you for not playing fucking techno!”

On the other hand I had to give props to two mutant vehicles I saw built on monster-truck chassis – each had massive turbocharged engines, 1000+watt sound systems, roaring propane jets and a bevy of sparkle ponies aboard – and everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves. Just had to plug my ears, turn down our mikes a bit – and smile until they passed.

On Sunday night, we were seated atop our vehicle far back from the Temple burn perimeter, so missed the offending dubstep assault, but it sounds like those involved handled it as best they could.

There’s little to nothing BMORG can do to legislate assholism, any more than they can legislate common sense and respect. We can only work as a community to change behavior that offends all of us, in the best ways we know how.

But I have a few bits of useful feedback for BMORG that I offer humbly here:

– Tickets: Next year’s sales promise to be a chaotic and potentially unfair mosh pit of opportunistic scalping. I think we all hope that we’ll have the same even chance of buying a ticket at face value as every other legitimate Burner – but I think we all realize that unless the BMORG and the community band together to discourage scalping, huge blocks of tickets will be scarfed up very early and resold at a premium, greedy assholes will prosper, and good Burners will be shut out from BM2012.

Any suggestions?

– Exodus: Not everyone can enter or leave in the wee/off hours, and obviously thousands leave at the same time, so multi-hour passage is guaranteed. BMORG – please heed the suggestions above for better staffing on the gates/greeter stations (and everyone else – do volunteer to gate-check and greet – it’s fun and needed) and next time, entrance and exodus may be easier.

– Driving on 447: Everyone, please, for the love of God – SLOW THE FUCK DOWN AND DON’T PASS. You’ll get there. Better to arrive 15 minutes later than hoped than to cause anyone (including yourself) to have a heart attack, roll their vehicle, catch fire, die or all of the above.

Please consider 447 to be part of the playa – with its own rules designed to ensure everyone has a safe/sane burn. BMORG – is there anything you can coordinate with LEOs in Washoe/Pershing/NHP to enforce this?

– Paper waste: Greeters – Please don’t give out booklets to every single burner in a car. Ask how many are needed. We were two adults and a kid at the gate (my wife and son came up later) and I had to gently push back or we would have had two extra and completely useless fistfuls of paper on our hands. One per family is good, one or two per small camp is good, one per virgin is good. Everything else – overkill.

– Cellphone reception: This year’s setup was pretty nice – you can only get good reception later at night towards the edge of camp – enough to let people pass critical messages out to latecomers, but not so much that people are texting each other on the open playa.

– Educating the community – particularly newcomers: Every year, the same gripes about “non-mutated” vehicles from people who don’t realize there are dozens of DPW service vehicles or transports for the disabled that weren’t decorated because DMV realizes their owners have better things to do.

Every year, the same slew of moop, cigarette butts, bottles left in the potties and feathers and sequins in the wind.

And every year, people learn, and BMORG does a great job of educating them via the Survival Guide and JRS. The clueless usually get a clue or two by week’s end, and return to the playa wiser and cooler than before.

Will the population bump to 70,000 wreak some changes and unwanted pressures? Sure.

But in the 15 years I’ve been a citizen, I’ve seen BRC grow in beautiful, sustainable and healthy ways, and I’m not the least bit worried.

Everyone, have faith:- the community will continue to grow, enrich itself with the contributions of new burners and old, and evolve, as it must.

Regarding this year’s Burning Man… great time, amazingly organized, thanks to all who made it work so well! Well done Burners who were stuck in the Exodus for so long too. Ten hours for me – but everyone was peaceful, calm. Beautiful kites (thanks!), sharing… Can’t imagine that response from any other type of gathering.

Radical self-reliance and radical self expression are far to often interpreted to mean: “I can do whatever I want and fuck the world around me! I just got to see boobies!” What the? Burning Man is a living, breathing and evolving experience one carries with them out into the “default” world, sharing that new love of humanity, creativity and being into their daily life. A Burner believes in themselves with a fire deep inside. A Burner cleans up after others, sometimes our tails get a bit twisted but we do it, daily! A burner helps the person next to them. A burner loves. A Burner gives. A burner walks or peddles often. A burner doesn’t judge, but a lot of us are starting to get sick of the “college boys, raver only crowds, I’ll gift you a ride only if you suck my, and the rest of the interlopers.” Okay, we may label, but we tape out logos! I don’t know what’s next for the Man, if it even happens again is in question, but I know that after going only a couple of times, that being within that community has changed the way I feel, live and interact within this “default” world… I love to smile at strangers and friends alike! Peace Love and Burn it out from inside! Ack out….

Everita
Your home must be in a fantasy world. I live in the real one. I wonder if your reaction would have been different if I had said “Frat Boys” or “Sparkle Ponies”. I call it like I see it. Even my friends, on and off the Res, are embarrassed by the behavior I witnessed. My suggestion is this. Instead of giving away free passes to come and party, perhaps a real integration into the burner ethos through employment, volunteerism and education would be better for all. I saw those who stole our bikes before they did it. I recognized the behavior and had red flags flying. Stupidly, I assumed that eye contact and the flimsy little cable locks we used would be enough of a deterrent. I was wrong. They were waiting for us to leave for the burn, and when we left, they cut the locks. According to your logic, or lack there-of, the historical wrongs you speak of justify criminal activity now. I wonder how you would feel if something of yours was stolen and that excuse was offered up? I wonder what your involvement in native communities is at all? I wonder, how often do you visit and volunteer with any tribes if at all? Or is it easier just to hurl out judgment and titles on/to those you have no contact with. This is a forum to offer feed back to the BMorg and I really don’t feel like arguing with you on it any further. If you want to continue this debate, please feel free to contact me at my email address wendezine (at) yahoo.com

I agree with the moop and the darkwads. I think that BM, which has done a very good job of educating BRC citizenry about similar issues in the past (porta-potties, etc.) needs to start working on the moop and darkwad issues again. Conversely, a number of art cars had VERY BRIGHT headlamps and I think that DMV needs to ensure that headlamps on art cars are not disproportionately bright for the playa.

But there is a much bigger issue: Gate and Exodus are getting out of hand.

When I started coming to BM ten years ago, we could expect an hour or two delay tops at gate and exodus might be 3-4 hours.

This year, I heard about people waiting 7-8 hours to enter and exit the event. Obviously, the capacity is limited by the highways, but something needs to be done to ease the bottlenecks. Arriving and departing BRC is stressful enough as it is and something needs to be done to ease the wait times.

I intentionally skipped the Temple Burn this year to avoid the Exodus rush. I hope I don’t have to choose between watching that Burn and a sane departure procedure in the future.

Tell you what…Let’s meet at ThunderDome next year and we can duke it out with a wet noodle! Then make-up, ride our bikes (if they are still there) to a lounge, have a drink or two and see what else we can find to debate. Even my more liberal friends considered me obnoxiously liberal, so we would have a blast! But I do have some depth to my beliefs and I’m involved with volunteering in the Native American communities as well as the honor of many friendships w individuals. You have to admit your first post did come across a bit 1800’s. But I see where you are coming from now. Lets bury the hatchet…see – I can be politically incorrect! lol Friends?

Veteran burners need to help educate the virgins and newbies of the 10 principals of BM instead of treating them like idiots. Educate them and they will pass on your knowledge. But if we don’t pass on our knowledge then the virgins and newbies will continue down their path of “radical self importance” instead of “radical self reliance”. Remember we were all virgins/newbies once, so remember that and help them out.

I had the pleasure of helping out a virgin this year. Here is her tale: CK from BRBC asked if a friend of a friend could set up a tent next us and of course I said yes. Kathy from DC was our virgin. I welcomed her to the Playa and told her if she needed anything to please ask. My partner in grime helped her set up her tent and get her settled in. We gave her some tips then gifted her a bike and googles to use. She was so grateful for the bike that every time we ran into her she thank us again and again. She said she wouldn’t have imagined getting around the city without it. I was f’n tickled pink to help out someone so appreciative of a bike. Kathy also pitched in with offering to get ice when needed. Everyday she came back with stories about amazing people opening up their hearts and playa homes to her. I was blessed to have the pleasure of such a beautiful warm person as my neighbor. And I love helping someone out whether they are virgins or veterans.

This is what its all about…take care of each other and respect each others differences. And just maybe this will be extended into the default world.

*2nd year we brought an extra bike for someone to use. It makes me so happy to help someone out with a set a wheels and the recipient is always very grateful ;-)

I am sorry I was a virgin. I sorry it took me 15 years to get here. I had to raise a step child. Better late than never.

I would like to know if anyone is working on having rail access to the Burn. As you know the railway runs very close to the city. I know they do not have passenger rail service. I know that there is no freight station running right now. But with 50,000 participants Burningman could really use trains coming from both coast. It could use both passenger and freight. There are still car trains in the US and they could be brought to black rock. This would hugely help with Gate and Exodus. Nothing else could green the burn like rail.

If people are working on this I would be glad to volunteer on this project.

This was my first burn and it was spectacular, amazing and seredipity met me the entire time. There is a strong spiritual presence which I appreciated. The temple was nice to go to and many people made me feel home and welcomed as a first timer. Thank you for the environment and providing all the volunteer and staff support. I am looking forward to next year and how I can contribute more.

My favorite day personally was the day and night of the temple burning as it was a much more relaxed day. Art tours given by the art cars provided an enchanting atmosphere.

Lots of dubstep. I would of liked to see some more live performances, but maybe I just missed them. If there were some more downtempo eclectic DJ’ too, that would of been cool to participate in. Whatever though, everyone brings music I guess.

It really pisses me off that a whole bunch of a-holes don’t want to see children at BM. Our son is 7 and this was his 6th Burn. IT is alot of work to bring young people to BM, but the reward is them having the time of their life. You did see my kid at the orgy camp did you? Of course not! Burning Man is a city and cities are made of families, not just party animals. A 7 year old burner that has picked more MOOP in 1 year than most people would in 6 years.

A thought about the local natives stealing I saw one that I really think was waiting for me to leave our RV I walked around the other side as he was going towards the side door He saw me a took off along with a teen white boy I could not keep up with the kid I advised a ranger but I know there was no way they could have been caught ! My RV is home built and armor cladd in sheet metal he would have had to use a large pry bar to break into it so I was not too worried but just the thought that there were paying burners there to steal is a real bummer like i say lower numbers could be the way to fix things or 2 events ?? BM east and west ???

I read most of the post here and it seems to me that we got lucky, lived in a “nice” neighborhood :-), or went to a different event altogether (except for a few totally happy campers).
Ever since I go to Burning Man (6th time this year), I hear some (rare) people whining about how it was better in the old days, that dubstep sucks, that it’s too noisy, that people are not as nice as they used to be, that there are too many ravers/partier, too many RVs, too many kids, too many birgins, no more fast driving, no more crazy target shooting, no more sex in the streets, too much drugs, not enough drugs, too many cops, etc.
Well get over it. Burning Man is made mostly by you, with very limited direction from the BMorg. It is a full of life and, as such, it is evolving a bit every year. OK, I agree the sex in the street should have stayed though :-)
I feel that the set of rules and principles that are currently in place have been tweaked carefully over the years and are one of the reason why this event is so exceptional.
Don’t change them without careful consideration!
In my 6 years of BM, my experience with the law enforcement was probably the best so far. I saw several times officers having “fun” with burners, taking pictures, laughing, even taking a sip of I don’t know what they were offered (probably water :-)). It was really great to see that.
I went on a few art cars and was grateful about it. A few rare times, I was told that they had a “private” event. No big deal. I never knew I was “entitled” to get on an art car, so I remained pretty happy. And I still have a bike that no one stole (systematically locked to other friend bikes). Actually, no one in my camp (20 burners) got anything stolen, ever, at Burning Man.
Overall, this burn was as good as ever, if not better on a many levels (great weather, best fireworks, more art display, best temple, the Trojan horse, great DJ’s, amazing food gifted nearly every day from our fantastic neighbors – ever had chicken tikka on the playa? :-P)
The potties were always clean and filled with paper, even at the end of the week (with the exception maybe of the 10:00 and 2:00 area).
My camp had a few events that were nicely attended by very friendly people. No abuse, just plain fun! We had people crashing most nights on the trampoline. Great! I am actually surprised that I did not encounter more people totally drunk or stoned.
I saw the sunrise a few times, after dancing all night at Opulent Temple, or simply riding around with friends.
I enjoyed the visits at the temple, the Kecak Ramayana monkey chants, the orgy dome, etc, during the day.
For all the stereotype-prone people here: The crazy raver burners, fire dancer, art photographers, yoga lovers, kinky lifestyle enthusiasts are not that distinct that you may think. It’s not the brain impaired partiers versus the sleepy seekers. Open up! And don’t move the big sound camp in deep playa more than any others.
I understand that some burners want to expose their kids to the experience (I have not so far, maybe next year). This is completely fine by me, as long as the authorities don’t use that as an excuse to turn the event into Disneyland to accommodate them.
Elaine: I am sorry you did not like the display of kinky stuffs. This place is one of the few, while the rest of the world is full of sanitized events, with all the spiritual flavors, so please, let those who like it have this dusty spot.
The exodus was, as usual, potentially long and frustrating. I was lucky to go in 30 min (faster than ever, departure timing is key) but some friends got stuck 7h. Not cool! There are surely some potential improvements that could be implemented. But look at the total number of people, the size of the road going to Gerlach: unless someone builds a larger road, or move the event somewhere else, it won’t get much better. Chill, get a book, play some games or a bit leave earlier.
Thanks to all volunteers for the hard work! Thanks to all of you for taking a part in this graceful moment! It was unbelievable! I am pumped up for another year.
Love to you all and see you in 2012!
BTW, when will next year’s theme be announced?

What a high and low burn for my group! Truck broke down 100 yards after the ticket takers stop. Had to have a friend tow our trailer into the event and get setup. My truck was towed to Reno where it is still not finished being repaired. Had to barrow my frends truck and drive three hours to Carson city and buy another new truck to haul our asses home to Chicago. (Not a real good situation for negotiating a good deal)

Wednesday night on the way back around 8:30 PM it took 3+hours to get back into the event. Not sure why there was so many people ariving on Wednesday but go figure,,,,that was the way my JU-JU was going.

The rest of the burn was great as usual with cool people all around us and a wealth of good will. Time to take a deep breath.

I was very impressed with the overwelming size and quality of the temple structure. I would however with resepct think that the Man needs to be the focal point of our event. Although cool as hell, it pailed in comparison to the tample and that shit ain’t right. I’m no one to critisize as my burn was cool as hell regradless but in my opinion the man needs to be the big dog at the show.

All the best to everyone out there who made the event spectacular as usual.

I’m surprised no one mentioned the reason for the long Exodus delay: I was told by a volunteer,who was working the Exodus I met on the way home that it was caused by two accidents on I-80 (both directions) . . . Sheriff was not letting anyone go.

FWIW, I posted a long and thoughtful comment at 1:50 p.m. on Sept. 12 – it was trapped in the moderation queue till just now. The webmaster has freed it. Scroll up and respond if any of it so moves you.

I do have one additional minor suggestion on the pulsing exodus: all 8 lanes of the final staging area were filled, coned off, and then the full individual lanes were being opened and released onto 447 1 or 2 at a time. It wasn’t until all 8 lanes of the staging area were completely emptied that any of the lanes began refilling. With a little more staff, you could manage refilling the emptied staging lanes even while lanes are being emptied…

AsOfTime
You’re putting words in my mouth. I repeat: This is the first I’ve heard of this. How was it the “Burning Man Crew(s)” fault? I didn’t know about any deaths except for one and that was unconfirmed and allegedly from a heart attack…again, how was the one of which you speak, The Burning Man “Crews” fault. What part of the “Crew” exactly are you talking about? The back of my ticket tells me that my actions and the results there of are MY RESPONSIBILITY. I ask this in all sincerity because I am an active volunteer and I would like to know of anything that we, as a group, may have done to prevent such tragedy. Perhaps you can just answer the question…

The most frustrating part about burning man is getting there and leaving. It was a total joke trying to leave on Monday. I will never leave on Monday again. If your going to sell 50,000 tickets then you need to provide better ways t handle all the traffic that goes with it entering and leaving the playa. GOD only knows what it will be like if you allow more and more burners to come to the event. MORE is not always BETTER.

This year was incredible; wonderful greeters, lots of camp birgins, best weather, best playa, best burns, sweet art, some of the best conversations, rockin camp layout and theme(roaming spas).

This year was also very difficult with an accident on the way down, relationship turmoil, 7 hr exodus, terrible moop on hwy at exit, aholes with loudspeakers, art cars thumping during the temple burn(next time i will climb and and beat the hell out of the driver), ice not available pre-event in locations as advertised, rampant pot smoking(i love it, but hate the leo it attracts), tons of drunken losers making life hard for everyone, massive amounts of darkwads causing accidents, and ART CARS GOIGN WAY TO FUCKING FAST. I actually sustained hearing damage from the horn of the great POS yacht-fuck you pricks.

Burning Man is about self expression and self reliance. After 6yrs in a row, not sure i’ll be back again soon. This year took a lot out of me….Course i say that every year!

Shimmy, you are right and thank you for your post, but I can also say that I talked to A LOT of Veteran burners on the playa and as a virgin this year I was telling a lot of them things they never did read up on or principles they have put to the waist side. So, it’s about “individuals” and not veterans vs. virgins same goes for “radical self-importance” and “radical self-reliance” you can find both in veteran and virgins, as a virgin I was more prepared to spend the week at HOME then a lot to veterans who were asking me for water and help. So everyone, let’s keep the comments to individuals and not classes/groups, have a wonderful day and see you at home soon :)p

2nd Burn and it was great. Last and this years was something to see! I had brought my bike to tow a wagon with Color Organ Light Box and microphone to the Playa last year. This year I made banana ice-cream and brownies (no special ingredient) and made many friends with offerings.

Bars, art cars, theme camps were really the most part great. A few I didn’t find OK, so you find others to choose. So there is really no downer!

On the way out 9hrs…. I’ll think of staying a day or two later maybe next time.

The line out….. just one interaction with an authority white vehicle truck….. Nothing more than the guy angrily telling me to go behind the fence. This was at the sides of the 8 lanes of traffic out. Other people had been playing frizzbe, soccar,etc. and I thought it OK. Later when DOTA showed up at a point where the lanes out made a curve bend inward on the left side as headed out, there were loads of people and no authority saying behind the fence. I suppose it could be that it was just that a fast moving authority vehicle traveling along the edge of the fence on the outer side would not like to have someone in their way in an emergency… an well I did see an EMT vehicle with light flashing an other authority vehicle zooming about at times so I can see their point. Note though that the port-potties and bike to bathrooms were a good idea and they were outside of the fenced line going out, so it would be good to know what the rules are exactly?

Ian,the burning man crew sold almost 4,000 extra tickets than the said 50,000 cap. First of all each year since the start of all this it has been marketed and prices have sky rocketed each year,this is simply because they seen a profit can be made.What once was free and a small community turned into a beast of greed and lost soulless beings.Are you your brothers keeper? Well you better realize you and I are responsible for are brothers and sisters.If greed did not hit this scene and it was kept secret like the start,well I sure don’t see anyone dead.Is this the legacy you want to be part of?Is alright to leave a wake of dead for the sake of a profit? FUCK THAT SCENE AND THE GREED HEADS THAT THINK IT IS ALRIGHT TO TURN PROFITS FROM DEATH. BUT HEY IT’S JUST A PARTY. RIGHT?

I had a great burn with the exception of two incidences, both involving photographers. In the night of the Trojan Horse Burn, I was out on the perimeter for 3 hours prior to the Burn so as to get a spot close up, right as the Burn was happening a very rude photographer, jabbed me hard in the ribs and crawled up and over my back to get in front of me to take his picture. What a butthead… he was lucky I was at Burning Man and feeling my love vibes, or I would have chewed him into little red bloody meat bits… I am a girl also, so I was surprised that a man at Burning Man would treat me like that. I have never had any encounter like that in the 4 years I have gone. Then on Sunday Night at the Temple fire right after the Temple Burn, I was standing by the fire, in my own way saying goodbye to my beloveds, when I opened my eyes and realized that I was being photographed without my permission, when I asked the photographer why he felt it was okay to photograph my grief without permission, he just said “great picture” and just ran off. While I am generally very okay with being photographed, this was a very personal time for me and it was not for public consumption. I would ask that you inform the photographers that asking is required before shooting and that good photographs are great but not when taken without the participants permission.

My 4th burn and each is special and different. Just a couple of suggestions. My camp truly appreciates burgins. Many visited our art piece, left lovely comments in our guest book at the “Way Inside Out” near Pink Heart at Esplanade and 9:15.
1. A short video about the 10 Principles be played before purchasing tickets at the website. It would inform the newbies that don’t take the time to peruse the website.
2. We camped near our regular area of 9 and G. Didn’t know that this had been assigned as a sound camp area. The dub-step camp that played to 7 am. which was located 9 and Hajj (Camp HomeBase) was way overwhelming plus a few other smaller sound camps.
3. For exodus (and maybe this is a pipe dream) but can we pick a number and a time.
We have to remember that this is a vibrant city with over 50,000 citizens, it will never run smoothly but it is the most expressive, free, joyous place on earth.

Could have been some more porta potties out there though. I was amazed that there were already line ups starting on tuesday morning to get in the ones on the outside streets. Maybe do some on the outer rim like there were a couple of years ago.

Did not like the amount of people being pulled over by the police on the way in after the gates. I don’t know if there is a way of stopping that. A couple of cars from my camp where pulled over for the most miniscule things such as a light being out for there licensee plate..

Fantastic 7th burn though… can’t wait to do it all again next year… Big ups to the DPW!!!

What can I say, another great burn, my 5th and the best, the art was awe inspiring, best temple I’ve seen. The man burn was truly awesome!! I could not stay for the temple burn so I have no feedback on it, however heard it was great. I had about 2.5 hours getting in Monday morning and only an hour getting out Sunday late morning, I know there are a lot of people bitching about exodus on Monday but I don’t know what they expect you guys to do, 447 is only so big and can only take so much at once. I thought the city layout was perfect, never felt squeezed despite the amount of participants.

About the only thing that ruffles my feathers at BM are the motorized scooter, they make noise and create dust but unlike art cars and mutant vehicles, provide no visual or sensual benefit, I would for sure ban those.

Before the Exodus line officially starts, have a marked parking area for people to pull in to volunteer to make things run smoothly. I would have gladly volunteered short-term had I known I were welcome to do so.

More lanes? Less lane-changing, please! Pulsing seemed a little haphazard and the volunteers seemed a little overwhelmed.

Please stop whining about Exodus! If you don’t manage to enjoy the long wait times as opportunities to mingle & share with your neighbors then you’re doing it wrong! Plus, whining is just aggravating.

Motor scooters on the playa? Saw several, but they seemed to be tourists. Not a huge fan of motorized anything (especially ear-sores!)–consider getting creative with non-petrol-based methods of conveyance. Saw police several times hauling ass–and forming huge plumes of dust; no lights, no siren. This is discouraging to those of us who honor the speed limits, only to see them being disregarded without explanation. If somebody were to ask me why it was important to obey the speed limits, I no longer know what to say.

BMIR did an awesome job Monday, and I especially enjoyed listening to the in-studio conversations. I will stop by next time for sure for the soon-to-be-annual spontaneous potluck & cookout party instead of subjecting myself to Exodus that early.

Darkwads? Yeah, they’re around, but no need to complain about them. If they are a problem, SLOW DOWN! Perhaps bringing some glow to gift is a good idea? Simply yelling “Get Some GLOW!” is not enough. Think of how many times a person can hear that on their way back to get glow stuff back at camp? Please be considerate, even to darkwads.

Do not even SUGGEST more ordinances. This is a social experiment and creating rules will create criminals and ill-will. We need to discover creative solutions to problems that arise, as a Community! Reverting to default models is not an option.

The toilets were pristine this year, and some of the reminders and notes posted to them were very entertaining! Loving the porta-john love! Thanks for helping keep the playa turd-free!

I was impressed with the number of vendors immediately outside the event. During Exodus there were people handing out water–promoting a for-profit electronic music event on the label. Guys, really? Is this just another commercial event where its okay to exploit young people’s minds to make a buck? I’m not sure what became of all this but I hope a fruitful and challenging dialogue was sparked.

Please Please Please. People must know that MOOP is EVERYTHING you bring to the playa that hits the ground. Not just what is actually desirable. Not just the big pieces. There is micro-moop to consider even BEFORE your journey begins! I spent half a day picking up after my neighbors who left behind all kinds of scraps, pieces, feathers, glitter, splinters, you name it. I thought these were good people?!? What’s going on here? What exactly does LNT mean to these “veteran” burners? PLEASE do not expect EVERYONE ELSE to pick up after you! It is embarrassing and disgraceful for me to discover that people are not planning for the all-too-important clean-up stage of an event of this caliber. This is not a place for you to leave evidence of your tomfoolery! If it were, then we may as well detonate the Earth’s core and be done with it. I am not interested in living in my own, nor anyone else’s garbage. Picking up after yourself is a contemplative and rewarding opportunity to understand the relationship between cause and effect–a necessary part of anyone’s burn! Please do not diminish it.

Perhaps we can carry around something with which we can catch and store errant moop on the playa. People are always losing things without noticing, and together we can all alleviate the symptoms of windswept garbage on the playa.

The flagged camp areas–there was a major one by me and it hardly filled up; the police tape around it, however, keeping others away was only removed near the very end. Is it that necessary to claim certain areas as yours?

Some of the sound camps (such as those facing the open playa) could benefit from being un-enclosed, thus discouraging artificial congestion within their walls. Nothing really encourages dancing like having the room to move freely, right?

Once again, I really appreciate the people who are pro-active in curbing the corporate presence at BRC. Your creativity is an inspiration.

I have never heard so many people using the adjective “retarded” since middle school! It’s really not that descriptive a word!

Overall I had a fantastic time and appreciated everybody’s efforts (esp. the artists and volunteers) to make this an unforgettable experience for all. Thank You!!

My partner and I are in our late 50’s and finally made it to BRC, had great time and can’t wait return. We thought everything was run very well, no complaints, thanks to all that organized this great event. We set up camp in the center burbs, so the vibe was mellow. I made what I called “ first burner bras” and set up a little boutique to give them away, which was the highlight of everyday, so much fun helping ladies with the transition to a new look.

Read all the posts, here are my thoughts on some of the comments:

We had no bad experiences inside BRC, but after reading all the posts, looks like we lucked out….and very glad we missed the sniffer dogs.

Wish we would have been able to get a ride on an art car…… agree that it is not easy.
It was a shame that some people did not tie down their trash, which ended up on the highway. Thanks to the volunteers who stay to clean up.

Totally agree with the post regarding the idiot drivers passing on the way in, very scary.

Friends had warned us of the exodus, so we left late Sunday prior to the temple burn. Very sorry we missed it.

I remember waiting in line to go to concerts at the Fillmore and Winterland, and hearing all of the old people (anyone over 30) walking by making negative comments about us and our music. All of you complainers sound like a bunch of people stuck in the past; soon dubstep will be a thing of the past too. We thought the music was fun, and since we are hearing impaired from all those concerts in the 60’s, it didn’t seem loud. And there really was a lot of variety if you looked for it, loved the French Quarter music.

It sounds like a good idea to not allow entrance after Thursday; it would probably keep out a lot of the thugs and pervs.

Great idea to limit the size of RVs, they take up a lot of space. Also, the companies that bring those mega RVs in for the super rich need to have an attitude adjustment, they had some of the worst drivers, going 50mph trying to get to the highway on Sunday, that was the most dust we saw all week.

Didn’t see any garbage on the playa or streets, again, we must have lucked out.

Did not smell any KGB or see any other drug use, everyone was well aware of the huge law enforcement presence. At least they still let us drink alcohol in public. Getting carded is absurd.

No need to wait in line for ice if you plan ahead. We layered our ice in blocks, cubes and dry ice in 4 large coolers and only opened them one at a time to transfer ice to smaller coolers. We still had ice on Sunday to give away.

Friends who are veterans warned us of the theft problems, so we locked up everything we did not want to lose.

There will always be darkwads and assholes in the world, it is part of life.

All the kids I saw looked like they were having fun, all of the nannies need to butt out of people’s parenting choices.

I did not realize that BMORG gave free passes to the Paiute tribe. This explains the drunken Native Americans I saw that looked very out of place. Better to donate money to the tribe’s community center or for scholarships.

Being a veteran does not mean you are a better person. I know a lot of veterans in the default world who are jerks that are only “cool” the one week of the year that they go to burning man. So, get over yourselves.

Looking forward to next year, hope to get in a few more burns before it all ends.

AsOfTime
Perhaps Burning Man is just not for you. I hope you find, or create something a little more your style. I will continue to embrace it, volunteer as much as I can and help my friends, new and old, have an amazing experience. My previous questions to you still stand…but my guess is that you will never coherently answer them.

There are a few unregistered sound camps, like the one set up at 9:30 and B, The Panda lounge set up well after the single tent camps were in place. It was non-stop dubstep bullshit. Ear plugs were no match for the bass vibrations. It would be nice to have an area for all the a-holes who want to do Ecstasy. The bs was on a loop, and even though no one was around at 9 in the morning it was still buzzing bass. As usual, the Rangers were usless and refused to address this. There was a point when the Panda lounge camp was close to being visited with violence. There are going to be problems in the future because the Ecstasy camps are not there for the Burning Man experience, they are there for the rave, and they know that there are no repercussions for there inconsiderate use of bass cannons.

Big, big ups to the thousands of burners and support people who made my first burn a wonderful trip. Goddamn you’re great! I experienced nothing but open hearts and open minds, and a shitload of dubstep! I didn’t bump into any assholes, and I imagine that most of those I might have bumped into were really just burners deep into their own thing and unaware they were causing bad vibes. Anyway, considering 53,178 people in a “small” space combined with my deep knowledge of human behavior, I visualized an imperfect interpersonal nirvana and it turned out much better than expected. Had a few Sparkle Ponies (female and male) in my camp, but so what. Like somebody said “they’re like cool looking furniture you might get to fuck”; that’s what they bring! Was it “better last year”?
Working with other burners and feeling the spirit at the Temple were my favorite gigs, even considering the incredible art on the Playa. I deeply love the mind of every person who built something and put their vision out there to share. I think those expressions weave the burner community together complimentary to other aspects of the event.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ll be building with you again next year.

To all: If you want to make your burn much much better: Volunteer. Get involved….it’s the most rewarding experience you can have and it really gives you understanding of what it takes to put on such an event. There all literally thousands of opportunities from an hour or two to the whole week…do what you can, you won’t regret it.

Hi
I had a great time no problems , Left just before the temple finished burning only 45min to
highway . I want to echo a complaint i saw early in this forum, At the Temple Burn a very drunk , loud and rude crew in a official truck # 1 – 169 . They were yelling at people and talking loudly about blowing up things with Military weapons . I finally said to them the only sound I hear is you guys please be quiet . they said I should move. I am shure they worked hard all week but this was not the time to be partying

simoneski,
I agree with you also. I am a old Jerry head also. My crue lives by a few rules that are not rules but somehow we know how to play without… Maybe we just need to set up our own camp. Something tells me we definitely could educate the newbies that think anything goes that decides that they could do anything in our camp. I would be our own world. One thing is for sure we know handle our own situation. Please feel free to email me. You know my email. I have almost pushed this off in my mind but the right people, might change my mind.

To the rest of you I know what I said in previous post but the right ppl could change my and our peoples mind.

Just finished my Eleventh Year in a row. It’s a different experience every year and I love it. Guess that’s why I keep coming back. The biggest, or most annoying, change I’ve seen in my eleven years is the music. I used to listen to different types of electronic music semi occasionally, but burning man has ruined that for me. It is way over done, and rudely overdone. I help run Gedi Prime saloon, an old western bar that plays nothing but old school, outlaw country and ho-down blue grass. We do what we do because we’re country folk and enjoy the hell out of our bar, but also because we feel that what we offer is much needed at burning man. We were granted esplanade this year, and had many folks drop in to merely thank us for the escape from techno, dubshit and their retarded cousins.
Though most appreciate what we do, we did have to deal with more assholes than usual. A few people even told me that our music wasn’t in the spirit of burning man???? Clearly they have no idea of the spirit of burning man. One girl even asked if I would put on her ipod so she could have a song to spin fire to. A funny south park episode instantly came to mind. Yes, there were a lot of virgins this year. I met some really awesome ones! I also escorted some very rude ones by the scruff of their scrawny, raver necks out the swinging, saloon doors. But, I guess thats just another challenge of a growing city.
I’m not sure if there is a solution to what I see as a problem (techno). I’ll admit, I do some occasional clubbing, when i’m not busy being a rowdy, whiskey drinking, fire shooting, shit kicker. But I miss seeing and hearing more variation in the music department at my favorite city. I would like to see more live music by actual musicians. More stages and less Dj booths. The big art cars are definitely a big part of the problem. I brought a double decker to the burn several times, and the fun of it was letting people ride and meeting random folks. Many of the cars there now are simply moving, VIP, buckets of Bass. The cry for big name DJs to get ticket privileges during the great 2011 ticket crises was perhaps one of the biggest display of burning man bull shit i have ever seen. Also a little bit funny.
One more thing. I need to respond to the kid issue. I have seen a few anti-kid remarks on here. I had two experiences this year that really says it all. It’s all about the parents, and burning man has the worst and the best. I had to give up a pair of my goggles this year to a little girl. She was in the middle of a small dust storm with her mom crying. Her Mom was just standing there enjoying the comfort of her very own pair of goggles, while her very young daughter stood crying in the dust with no goggles. Fuck You Lady! You suck at motherhood! Do your kid a favor and join the man next year in a fiery demise. Having said that: I also met one of the most amazing young ladies ever this year. Her name was Indigo, and she was out for a stroll with her Dad, Who would not even accept a beer because of his company. She was somewhere in the range of 10-12. Well spoken, firm hand shake, extremely polite, she blew me away. If I am ever graced with a daughter, I hope she is like Indigo. Burning man will not taint her, it will only make her stronger. I think she and her Dad know that. And Dad knows how to approach it.
Thanks for listening. For those who Love Gedi Prime Saloon, I’m sorry to say the Saloon is forever gone with the temple. Our group will be back however with our music and art as, “Big Iron Ranch.” Possibly in a village with the Department of Tethered Aviations. Thanks, Luke

Ditto on the music degradation. I used to love the music that floated out from art cars, rave camps and BMIR for their radical diversity.

This year the blend was about 40% dubstep/techno, 40% top-40s pop (Joan Jett? Lady Gaga? Journey??? Really????) played without any apparent irony, and maybe 20% weird/original/raw/roots stuff. Here’s hoping the trend burns itself out and the soundscape continues to evolve.

And ditto on Indigo and her dad. They joined us on a XyloVan tour, both climbed handily to the top of the torso sculpture, were totally polite, well-prepared and a joy to be with, and at a critical time when we were utterly exhausted. her dad (Kerry) pitched in to help us break down the mutant vehicle for transport home.

Kidsvillains are – like the vast population of BRC – 95% utterly awesome humans.

I don’t know how this could have been foreseen, but as the Man burned, huge, golf-gall-sized embers of blazing, half-burned wood rained down well beyond the safety perimeter into the crowd. Some fell right on top of our (fireproofed, but still vulnerable) canvas-and-plywood vehicle mutation. We evacuated the deck and broke out the ABC fire extinguisher in seconds, but wow, what a heart-stopper. I kept a little container of the airborne charcoal as a souvenir.

Just reporting in, that combustion and a light wind managed to punch a scary little hole right through the usually airtight design and safety plan for Burn Night.

This was my first year and I was not disappointed. The artwork was fantastic, my greeter, the fireworks, the burns, ooo and the hotty Ranger on the 6 o’clock side of the Temple Burn asking politely for people to sit down and put their bikes in the back. The Gameltron in the temple really awakened me to so much emotion I had been keeping inside. The Temple was AMAZING! LEO I encountered on burn night were very respectful and obviously just there for safety. Even the port o potties were clean!

Now for the bad stuff. Too many darkwads! The heartbreak I experienced on the drive out ended the event on a bad note. All the trash on the side of the roads and left all over the Grand Sierra parking lot obviously from burners….very very bad. If we want to keep Burning Man up, we really need to get with the program. =/

I’ll throw in my vote for throbbing thumping non vocal music. My first year in 2003, one of my first impressions of the event was how appropriate the music was to the deliberate descent into tribal and primal behaviors that go on there. Primal music for primal behaviors. I really like drum circles too. Music without words please!!!!

So yeah….. guys…. wow…. thank you is not nearly enough but still: THANK YOU ALL! Seriously…. I totally admire the ethos you keep in the face of this ever-expanding experiment.

I’ve (for now!) only two suggestions for changes:

1. There are some SERIOUSLY BAD road conditions over on 3:00 between Esplenade and Luscious….. can yall get a crew out there please?

2. While I know Playatime is Playatime….. what would it be like if yall were to send up a 30 minute warning flare before the Man and Temple burn? There’s always such chaos back at camp/in-town trying to get it together, and if there were a definite warning sign it would be a most excellent KICK IN THE ASS!

I have to agree with ~lancho on the warning flares prior to the Man and Temple burns; that sounds like an excellent idea! With the numerous advances in pyrotechnics – namely aerial shells – it would be cool to see a “30” and a “15” shell deployed in lieu of the burn!

Crimson Rose, is this a possibility?

Had a great burn – good times all around. The wait time was long for me as well; however, this was par for the course (I pulled onto the playa at 3:30 am Monday morning) as mentioned in the Survival Guide: the first 12 hours are the busiest. Got settled in around 7:30.

Thank you for all the effort to make Burning Man a spectacular event year after year! Oh, and happy new year everybody – see you at Decom in October!

This year was my 3rd burn and my favorite year so far. Burning Man has become an inspirational and spiritual part of my day to day life. It teaches you how to be a better person and that life is beautiful. Every year I am amazed at how such an event can take place. I will continue to go for years to come. With that being said, I did encounter issues that seem to get worse each year.

I’m totally down with “MORE COWBELL” as the theme for 2012…If BMorg doesn’t announce the 2012 theme soon, we’re going to have to get radically self expressive and announce our own!! “I’ve got a fever…..”

AsOfTime Says
It’s ignorant for you to think that putting on such a huge event does not cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Have you ever organized or been a part of an undertaking as large as BM, I think not with your comments, and if you have you have lost sight. It’s about respect even when you do have your own views and point to make, I don’t think BM is trying to sensor you, I just think you have an obligation as a citizen of BRC to make your point with dignity and respect and to also have your FUCKING facts straight before you start taking out your ASS. With love and a big playa hug!

The event was totally awsome as always. The only bad part was getting in. Monday night taking 5 hours from the point of leaving the pavement to getting past the greeters station is just too long. I understand the greeting for the virgins but those of us who have been many times just give us our map and events booklet and let us get in. It seems that all of the green things we all do are off set by the many many vehicles sitting there running engines for five hours. Really can’t this be worked on?

The temple was fantastic. I loved it there. All the singers and live music with the temple chimes were mesmerizing. My only sadness was after the temple burn there was no drum circle because some art car started blaring music like 20 minutes after the burn. I think only live music should be allowed at and around the temple burn. There is loud sound camps and art cars everywhere could they please stay away from the temple especially on the night it burns. I found four drummers after the temple burn but they would not play because they could not compete with the loud art car. My wish is that art cars blaring music show some respect next year and stay away from the temple completely.
I also think there was a lack of good drum circles on the playa this year. Possibly good drummers could get free tickets or compensated for their art of sound. It would be sad to lose any element that keeps Burning Man diverse. Please bring back the drummers…….Thanks or a wonderful burn.

PDL, Thanks for the reply to my post but please let me clear a few things up. I wasn’t trying to imply veterans vs the virgins mentality but to help spread knowledge regardless of how many notches are on ones belt. I too have helped spread wisdom to veterans/virgins alike but have met both veterans/virgins who who act as they have “radical self importance” instead of “radical self reliance”. I treat people as individuals and not by group association.

You the Staff, and we the community all need to do a better job educating and reminding each other of the principles that make Burning Man what it is. On playa, when we see a darkwad, offer them some light; when we see trash, pick it up. A guy asked me at Robot Heart where the trash bins were, and I kind of laughed and said there aren’t any. In retrospect, I should have been prepared with a moop bag and offered to pack his trash out for him. That’s how people learn. Consider gifting smokers small tins for their butts and perhaps we’ll see fewer butts on the ground.

Leave No Trace is the principle that is most stressed and in jeopardy. People leave piles of moop behind when they break camp expecting (and knowing) that somebody will clean up after them. The trash on the highway and in the parking lots of Fernley and Reno was a disgrace this year. Leave No Trace begins before we pack. What we don’t bring we can’t leave behind as moop. This is an opportunity for education. Many people missed the survival guide. We need more guides pre-event stressing how to prepare for a leave no trace event.

Staff – (btw, you all do a fab job, that goes without saying, but it’s OK for me to say it because you all are awesome) – suggestions: publish a wall of shame; take pictures of the trash and email them to every ticket holder with the question, does this make you feel proud to be a burner?

I hosted my first theme camp this year. We were Brokedown Palace at 4:40 and Divorce. It was hard work but so worth it. We met so many great people. Every time I’ve been to the Burn it’s improved my life. Thank God there are still a few venues that allow us to climb out of the box and for a moment take in the glory of life’s rich pageant. Brokedown Palace will be back in 2012. Look us up.

I was a virgin Burner this year and I had an incredible time. I was amazed, touched, wowed by the love, sincerity, freedom, wonder and enthusiasm of my fellow burners. A magical world like nothing I’ve yet experienced in my lifetime. Night time my favourite. I felt like a child again. Thank you to all for a wonderful first experience at Burning Man xxxx ps. Couldn’t believe how clean the loos were!!!! I hope I come home again.

Having been a contributing member to the World’s Largest Clock and the Temple of Transition Burning Man was especially meaningful for me. It was my 12th year and all went fairly well. I do have a couple of concerns though. With the increase in numbers of participants there has been a corresponding increase in the number of bicycles on the playa. I’ve been a conscientious bicyclist since I was 17 and am now 58. Not all bicyclists are skilled, conscientious or even safe out there. There are marauding bands of bicyclists and too many are without lights. My main objection though is the increasing number who use the esplanade as their cruising ground. There’s a sign that states the esplanade is for a promenade. That to me means walking. It is mostly unsafe to be a pedestrian on the esplanade and I would like to see this change. Last year a fellow got hit by a drunken young woman riding along. She took him out leaving him with a broken leg and she merrily cruised off. I’m not aware of any bike casualties this year although I am lucky not to have hurt myself as I tripped and fell over an unlit bike laying on the esplanade. ( I was being dazzled by a theme camp’s lights and did not notice this unlit bike in my path. ) Could the rangers direct bicyclists to ride on the open playa adjacent to the esplanade and leave that area for pedestrians? Could more emphasis be put on bicycle safety and make sure the bikes are lit? I notice the playa ride share bikes are not equipped with lights and this could be a tragedy just waiting to happen. Also another suggestion concerning the growing numbers of bikes jamming the entrances to theme camps along the esplanade, how about putting bike racks on the outer side of the esplanade closer to the playa so there’s no interference with pedestrian traffic? thanks, Cindy

This is our first American burn.
BMIR was a hoot. We loved listening to you folks through the week.

I think my partner put the Friday Saturday situation best.
Like all the great cities in the world, it sucks to go out on the weekend.

Thanks for such an amazing Tuesday, Wedensday, Thursday and Sunday Black Rock City!
We’ll be back with our team from Australia with more Fists Of Steel in the coming years.
I hope we can really embrace radical inclusion and help bring up the folks still young on their feet and in their actions with respect and open eyes.
Huge cudos to the team behind the infustructure, volunteers and rangers. What a group effort.
Much love from the land of Aus

This is my third year and each year has been different and wondeful. But having said that I will echo what some others have said.
1) Ban personal scooters – require a minimum of maybe 20 sq feet foot print so more than one can ride.
2) Moop was terrible at time. I feel some people see this as their personal entertainment and do not care about the playa.
3) Art cars going to fast and not paying attention. I saw several people get hit by art cars that were going to fast. Have a few more rangers on the roads at night. Speed bumps could be fun!! :)
4) Ice Ice Ice- early arrival and could not get any ice.
5) Cops should have to wear big clown outfits so we know who they are- entrapment seems to be a fun thing for them.
6) Bike thieves- I heard more people complain about this during 2011 than the previous two years. What is up? We are responsible for our own bikes but thieves are violating the basic principles of BM.

I still love BurningMan and plan on attending 2012. I just hate some of the things that seemed to be worse this year.

This was my wife and I’s first Burn. We’v looked into it for years and this was the one. I knew to bring bikes, but we like the grounding of the walk, so……ugh. BRC
is huge, no….hugemungus. Note to self, bring bike next year.
Had a flat the morning after arival, neighbor had a pump,,,found nail…ugh. I decided to wait till last day to worry about it. Kudos to Death Guild for gifting me their last
bottle of green slime …3k ml later still going strong (thanks guys).
If there was a downside I’d say there was a bit to much entitlement from some.
Moop! and lots of it. Yelling and making fun of people in costumes….just beeing mean and disrespectful. I was passed by a few rv’s on the way out going 20 or so….
joke was on them. Found them on the side of the road just before gerlach, in some sort of breakdown. We carried others moop out with us so there was no room for extra guests. :)
Rude, dangerous, beautiful,loud,amazing artcars. Oh yea, jackwagons with megaphones!
Today I will give more, laugh harder, appreciate the moment, and acknowledge other people and there uniqueness and be thankful for this opportunity.

Tons of art on the playa, the best playa and weather conditions conditions we’ve seen, and we were part of an an amazing group of people (The Cabana Club at 4:30&A).

Many people have mentioned the long exodus times. Although it’s a drag to have to wait so long to get to the highway, it’s just a function of the capacity of a little highway not engineered to deal with 50K people on a daily basis. Patience might not be mentioned in the ten principles but it’s certainly key. Keep in mind that Gerlach is tiny town far removed from the hustle and bustle of most of our lives for eleven months out of the year. We are all guests. Look at it as your first opportunity to extend BM to your own life (& who knows who you might meet in line).

To the people who’ve complained about the large number of newbies this year I’d suggest that you think about your first year. Newbies have a new perspective and will return to show us all something special if given a chance. Thank you to all of you who jumped off the edge and decided to join in! I can’t wait to see what you have to show us!

As for the city plan. I loved the extra room and the emphasis on drawing us deeper into the neighborhoods. The Esplanade has in the past become almost impassable with throngs of dumped-over bicycles. Attracting people past the usual suspects to check out what others have to offer was quite effective. After six years on the playa I finally saw the walk-in camping section and met some great camps.

My only concern about 2012 is that the sell-out of tickets in 2011 will encourage hoarding of tickets by scalpers and will create an commodification of the experience.

Here is a new rule. No tourbuses, with pervs with digital cameras. That really makes me not want to do this again, if I was of the opposite sex that is.. These aren’t rules, but should be taboo. Kids belong at Disneyland, and not at Burning Man. Making your kids at Burning Man is great, but drop them off with relatives on the way to Burning Man until they are old enough to make their own. Oh, and you can have them watch your pets too. Don’t bring your offspring, or fido landmine makers. Guess what? One rotten apple ruins it for everyone else.. especially when the entire tree is gas two stoke weed wacker 24/7. Ban on motorized scooters. Electric is right. Gas is very intrusive. Limit Generators to the very edge of all camps. More Solar Cell sponcership and promotions should be there to use when campers arrive. Limit Art Cars. Share your rides. Stagger the Exodus crowds so people don’t have to wait 5-10 hours. Pick-A-Number Exodus and leave when your number is called. Organization for Exodus. That single file line of chaotic unpaced to get to hardtop in the heat was a nightmare. Why single file? Two lines. One for small cars and small trucks. And another line for slow RVs, Buses, and flatbeds. MOOP worse than ever seen before. Hire a big SEMI 16 wheeler to arrive the last night to haul out any garbage people can’t haul themselves out of the Playa. A trash inspection on the way out by everyone is required. It should be a new required group event. All that trash on the side of the road was like a endless trash barge and will probably get the locals upset enough to cancel this eventually. I wouldn’t blame them one bit either. Feathers should be taboo. I dunno. It’s called Burning Man, not Raving Man. Less of that trendy new Dubstep noise, More Trance. Anything but Dubstep next year actually. Big DJ camps out, instead of in. Fireside at the man should be drum circles, greiving, mediation, and not another night of Dubstep and booming Bass. That was annoying as ___ and just disrepectful to others. Who was the jerkoff with the bass after burn and your art cars? Who were you trying to impress? Seperate the party from the traditional aspects of the burn. If you are new, listen to what others advise you on. Red filters on car headlights should be required by DMV. And just generally speaking, I noticed so many disrepectful vistors this year than normal. People being selfish pigs. Not sharing their rides. Not sharing camp. One guy yelling at others to get out of “his” space. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing this year. Vigilantism is definately new, but with this many dickheads this year, it is expected. Less Boozers would be a nice return. I saw poop on the Playa, dog, and human. Unhealthy. Bikes being stolen. Never to be seen again ever. Where did they go? Should I feel disheartened? No, I am ticked off and I won’t come anymore if you let these jerks ruin it for everyone else. Eliminate the “weekender” factor by closing the gates on Wednesday at midnight. Less originality this year by vistors. No imagination with some people. I’m for more exclusivity for this event as a whole and paying more upfront, and less of this open gate tourbus policy to make money to squeeze more people than actually belong. Let the pervs with the tourbuses go to Thailand. I don’t want my butt for all my coworkers to see when I get home. Sheish! I leave on Tuesday if you don’t fix it by next year, if I even decide that -some- of these changes are implemented by next year. Its not fun when violence, stupidity, selfish, greedy people ruin it for the true burners. You just won’t have a Burning Man eventually if you turn this into Raving Man/Tourist Man.

Another good burn overall, but disappointed in the trash situation as well.
Trash and moop. As others have said, secure your trash and rest of your load for that matter properly before you leave. It was shocking how much trash there was between the playa and Gerlach. I have to give props to the DPW for their efforts, we have volunteered with them in the past and they do a great job, but why not make it easier on them and not risk losing the land lease and clean up after yourselves? Maybe its time to raise ticket prices and start providing trash / recycling services. It would not be cheap to bring more heavy equipment to the playa but could have the potential to cut down on moop and highway trash significantly. Could even hire local populations to run such services and help the local economies.

Amazing experience – my first burn, 5 of us made the trip from O/S – which made this a big commitment with plenty of planning and organising. talking from experience at other outdoor gatherings I was astonished at the small amount of moop in comparison..

The entry was a little long – 7 hours but the experience was worth the wait, we had an awesome greeter who de-virginized us which boosted our excitement 10 fold… Perhaps a second exit point would be good for departure (the left hand lane was the winner). I was amazed at the friendliness and helpfulness of other burners, I am confused at previous comments about dogs and cops etc – I didn’t notice their presence the whole time, perhaps i was too busy marvelling at the amazing art, burning around on art cars and enjoying myself at the plethora of dance floors and events.

Ice wasn’t a problem the line was long at times but if you planned it right – no worries.

The toilets were surprisingly clean throughout the entire week – never seen that before anywhere… (cheers)

There was a good mix of tunes of all sorts all over BRC – if you didn’t like one floor peeps move to another.

To the folks without night lights you were ninja targets without the moves, seriously people wear some sort of lighting at night!!!

For those bagging virgins, you were one once too!

The amount of things I would do differently is amazing which makes BM so unique, it offers burners the chance to participate become active and grow within a community and teaches you how to understand what you want next from your time at BRC…

Nice Burn hope to return home soon!

Thanks to all the organisers and folks who spend so much time making such an amazing experience come to life. Well worth the journey, so many amazing experiences and takeaways, cheers

The burn was an incredible life experience. As usual, met many new playa friends. The temple was a incredible sight to witness it burn, very humbling. But get rid of the loud music on the art cars, it seems very disrespectful during the Temple burn. The effort and quality of the art installations was simply dumbfounding incredible, words cannot describe what we were able to see and experience. A mere mortal would have had their head explode. Naturally, pictures, video, stories cannot even come close to relating to someone the power of the playa and the burn. Were very fortunate to have been able to experience this over the years.
Ban all segways, power scooters, whizzers, etc. I never saw one of them going 5mph, I think they assume they don’t create a nice dust cloud behind them. Naturally they were not art cars or even decorated in any form. I would think a Ranger should be able to stop one and confiscate it for the balance of the burn.
Arriving home was wonderful, arrived on Monday morning and it took only 3.5 hours to get to the gate, but our greeter made the time vanish. She had incredible playa boobies! Can you think of a better way of entering our city? Leaving on exodus Monday morning was a bit long at 5.5 hours, but we totally understood and there are a lot of people trying to get out of BRC onto a one lane highway, not much can be done about leaving. You still had a chance to say goodbyes to your new playa friends.
We saw way too many items fly off of vehicles onto the highway and the shoulder. I had to swerve to miss a large object, which swerving in a RV is a huge pile of not good. It was sad to see so much trash littering our highway, we really left a great impression for non-burners to see. Speaking of trash, we saw more than usual MOOP this year. We even saw one of our neighbors leaving in a motor home rental leave a huge pile of trash on their site as they pulled away.
Additional streets :15 & :45 were great, made it much easier to get around by knowing your location was fine tuned. Until the assholes started stealing the street signs as usual. Why not just take a picture instead!
I saw way too many huge pieces of real estate roped off well into the middle of the week. Should be first come, first homestead.
Too many f’n speeders in the city. We typically live around 4:30 and L (next to walk in camping). On Monday and Tuesday, people were driving well above the 5 mph limit. Maybe post Rangers or BLM on L street and pop people for speeding. Even on exodus Sunday and Monday, people were flying on L street in a hurry to wait in line to exit onto the highway. I don’t really care how fast they are going, it’s the freaking DUST they create. I love our environment of very basic law enforcement, but the speeding has gotten out of control so I think enforcement would be a great addition.
We saw two girls driving their black Nissan Xterra all week as a way of getting around, maybe write a arrival day/date on the windshield of non RV/Campers with a grease pencil, sticker, lip stick, shoe polish, etc.. That way if the Rangers see someone driving around with the wrong date, they can be scolded. We also noticed several others doing the same, so it’s not an isolated situation.
Too many virgins who just don’t get the Burning Man mantra. The event has gotten way too big now and is losing its flavor. It really seems like there are a lot of tourist now. We loved the quantity of the art and I know you can’t get this with fewer people, but I think it’s just too big now. And to many darkwads not light at night, that’s just plain stupid. They just don’t have any idea on how to leave no trace. I know you can’t single out virgins and you can’t force them to read the survival guide. No good solution to this issue.
Music was blasted at 4 in the morning, every morning (even exodus Monday), maybe a simple sound level maximum could be applied for those who don’t want dub step to wake them from a much needed sleep. The sound carries on the playa at the early morning hours. I know there are people who love music blasting a 4 in the morning, but they are probably a small percentage of burners so a little sound level consideration would be welcomed in the wee hours of the mornings. Play the music anytime you like, but limit the volume for basic consideration.
We also noticed many camps not as friendly as they use to be. We even gave up on trying to get a joy ride on a art car.
As usual, the event was freaking incredible and well organized. Looking at the scope of a temporary city for a very short period of time, simply amazing on what was pulled off. I really don’t think anyone outside of the military could pull off such a feat.
I have rambled on way to long, so sorry. Loved the 25th immensely, but I think it will be our last.
Massive XO’s
Dennis & Noreen Crane

too many fucking darkwads this year! and too many virgins! when i went through the immigration checkpoint it took mere minutes but when i got to the greeters station it took damn near an hour for the 4 cars and rvs in front of me to be “greeted.” now im not saying that i dont like the greeters but i may not be like other people when i say that after sitting in line for almost 4 hours i kinda want a cocktail like really fucking bad!! and im not willing to get out of the car for hugs just to get back in and wait for all the fucking darkwad virgins to get the hell out of my way! maybe having separate lines for the virgins and the returning veterans. everyone i mentioned this to thought it was a great idea.

does it seem that Burning Man is really turning into one long ass techno rave that never ever ends? this was the loudest year i have ever experienced! i always camp near or on the outer ring and every night i found it harder than in previous years to just get some peace and quiet away from all the lousy sound systems with all the lousy djs! i mean really, what the fuck happened to all the other music that doesnt have the same beat and melody that repeats for hours on end? my last night on the playa this year i found a bunch of metal heads at Fandango and convinced them to play some heavy stuff after i showed up to some lame ass playing madonna and cyndi lauper for a bunch of lame ass couples who were making out. Slayer has never sounded so damn good at 1 am. we need more good music and less bump bump bump!

and by the way people who speed through the city should go fuck themselves!!!!! SLOW DOWN OR GO THE FUCK HOME ASSHOLE!!!!

In my perception, and to the best of my memory, there has been a bit of an arms war going on with art car sound systems. It does seem there are ever more ultra loud hearing damage sound level art cars rolling about. There was a huge one I only encountered once that was deafening at 200 yards distant. This year in fact I packed hearing protection headset with me at all times, and used it a lot.

Remember that what music is there is what artists show up and participate, or the music people like who take the time to build an art car. Stop complaining about dubstep and do something about it. I loved how there was multiple explosions during the man burning. The fireworks show during the middle of the week was awesome. I hope next year is even more epic. Next year, I’m bringing extra containers and rakes to clean up around the port-a-potties. Won’t have to take much of it home. A lot of it was cans and items that could be thrown in a burn pile. Didn’t remember it being so bad last year. I’m also going to bring lots of glow for darkwads next year. Single use glowsticks should be banned. Greeters should tell people at the gate that if they have accidently brought feathers to keep them in their vehicle or rangers will confiscate them. On the small highway out 3 people passed us and my friend sped up to keep them from getting over even though there was a hill coming up. I will not allow him to drive on that road next year. My apologies to anyone who had to deal with that.

Skyzer I totally agree with the separate lines for virgins. After 6 hours in line I was uncomfortable making the veterans in back of us wait while we rolled in the dust, banged the gong and chewed the fat with the greeters. It was getting dark, I wanted to set up my camp, and I could almost feel the vibes from the people waiting behind our empty car, who wanted to do the same. I wish I could have pulled off and they could have gone ahead. The greeters were lovely, they put me back in good spirits again, but still, others should have been able to proceed.

While I have nothing against dubstep (I found it actually seemed to make my feet move faster as I trudged home across the playa) my love for it waned at 4 am when an art car blasted it right next to our tent. I almost forgot to be angry as I was so amazed that a sound that loud actually existed. He had huge speakers and the sound was totally distorted as it came out. I thought about Douglas Adams and Disaster Area.

While that incident wasn’t too amusing, it was much less amusing after the Temple burned and we got only a few moments of noise-disrupted sleep, then waited in line for 7 hours. As we were going down 447 a car ahead of us veered across oncoming traffic and rolled into the ditch. The car was crushed but miraculously the woman was pulled out alive. Even more miraculous was that she waited until she was clear of the Indian Taco stands to fall asleep, and that an EMT Ranger was a few cars back.

Nobody wants to end their burn by pulling a mangled body from a car and holding a person while she takes her last breath. And certainly nobody wants to be that person. BRC does a great job of recognizing and controlling serious hazards, carefully regulating pyrotechnics, establishing burn perimeters, controlling RC frequencies, even setting up a real airport. For me, Exodus was the only time I felt that there was an obvious hazard that hadn’t been addressed. Maybe after the Temple burns the party is over. Turn off your music and allow everyone to get some sleep so they can get home in one piece.

First, this was one of the Great Years of my 13 consecutive outings. I had a wonderful time with wonderful people – some new, some dear friends, some the friends i only see this 1 week a year, and some my Best Friends i only met this year.

The Art was magnificent, and the Temple, absolutely gorgeous!

The best antidote for being a Jaded Fuck is to bring or adopt a newbie. Show them the streets, the art, the magic. See it through their eyes.

(I’m grateful i am not part of the Exodus! A benefit of being jobless :) )

That said, I have a pretty serious negative comment:

There were a LOT of Darktards out this year… my camp, the BLD and HappyL&nd (within the BLD) did our best, giving glow sticks and blinkies to darktard newbies to help them see the light… or rather, be SEEN by the light.

But alas, the worst offender was the one we nearly wrecked a slow moving art car on
during a bit of dust out just beyond the Esplanade.

It was HUGE !
It was METAL !
It was COMPLETELY unlit ….

it was a BMORG Burn Platform !!!

On further research, none of the Burn Platforms were lit that night nor the next night. Alas, i didn’t get out on an art car after that.

I’m all for Safety Third, seriously, but that was pretty irresponsible and dangerous and hardly inspiring much less practicing what you (and we) preach, coming from the Org.

super fantastic time. surprised by the bike theft thing…sad statement about the community is that as it grows, some people take what is not theirs. traffic in and out was a hassle, but patience and love worked. peace, a 4 time burner.

what was up with the zip line at the burn this year? we went up to it thinking it was going to be great only to get a sales pitch from the owner’s assistant about how they’re touring all the festivals this summer and they’re bringing it to us for free. check them out in texas next week, and on to xxx the week after. oh, and these are the zip lines that are found all over the world: costa rica, south america, etc… just look them up when you visit these places.

i understand that companies go out of their way to bring their products to the playa for people to enjoy… but this felt like a big advertisement as opposed to being brought to the playa in the spirit of burning man. the zip line, to my knowledge, never got up and running because of missing parts. how can the burning man organization prevent blatant advertisement at the event? the person i talked to had absolutely no idea they were violating one of the 10 principles (and honestly i didn’t have the heart to tell him. he was a really nice guy!)

This was my first burn. I told my husband if I have the same experience next year, I will not be back. I did experience some pretty awesome stuff, however it was overshadowed by a few things. Like…
-The radio station – sorry folks turned you off several times because you were either talking overly negatively about people, art or music OR every 3rd word was fuck. Is your vocabulary so small you found that necessary?
-TOO much open pot smoking!! I am with the person who brought that up. If I wanted to get high, I would have brought my own.
-I am with everyone about the motorized vehicles – most were NOT obeying the 5 MPH limit and kicking dust up everywhere.
-I think the size has reached critical mass.
+++GREAT things were the burns, the art, the weather, the temple and loving giving people I met.

great art, great innovation, great inventions, great pyrotechnics, lots of great burners
lousy music
You’ve got to segregate RV’s with their generators running 24/7 spewing carbon monoxide poisoning people around them so they could run their AC and cappuccino machines. We could not find a spot for our tent+van without being surrounded. They are actually bringing in prefab houses with AC charging $2200/week. Not exactly the Burning Man spirit.

I had a great 9th burn. I have been bringing RV’s the last few years and have found it increasingly difficult to get the tanks pumped. The second have of the week is spent trying to find an available truck. everyone around me had the same complaint and the drivers themselves say they could keep twice as many trucks busy.
Liked will call better, except I won’t be bringing any hitchhikers in the future who have tickets at will call because I don’t want to have to wait for them to get through will call. I heard one guy had to wait three hours while his hitchhiker navigated will call. No thanks.

After waiting 4 hours to get out of the gate during Monday’s Exodus….. it was not pleasant to see 7 cars cutting across the Playa to the gate and all 7 of them being allowed to leave and also cut in ahead of us. It started with one car cutting across and then others joined in tow. Not Fair! Also saw trash on the roadside after Gerlach… other than that, it was fantastic!

I could go on for days about all of the positive and amazing experiences I had. So I’ll just throw out a few suggestions:

No music from the art cars if they’re within some predefined distance from the temple. Earth Harp + Dubstep is a sound few people should ever have to endure. I worried that the combination would open some portal to the underworld and swallow the entire playa. The temple is a place of beauty and introspection. Not a dance club.

Segways. No thanks.

Getting in / out. Not entirely sure of what the answer is here. Either way it was painful.

Speed limits. Enforce them.

Otherwise, the absolute time of my life. I came back with a completely new perspective of life and my priorities. Thank you all.

my 7th burn. the city has gotten much larger since my first in ’98…the “good old days.” I toss and turn about going each year–sometimes I make it. I mostly have my shit together on provisioning myself and being responsible for my stuff (moop master). As all have stated above, mostly good and a few sore spots–same for me, though I think 2011 was among top 3 burns for me,, tho the ranking is stupid to make. I have seen the city grow, observed how the organization that makes BM possible has matured. I compare the city I live in, in the default world. I have been on the inside of providing for others and knwo a bit of what it takes to pull off community events. I appreciate more each year how much goes into making a city happen.
Behind all that love for BRC is concern for how big it has gotten, how disconnected some attendees (note I did not use the term “Participant”) are from the community aspect. Some consequences are moop and selfish behavior, among other societal ills. The solutions to some problems may be challenging, as they have more to do with personal responsibility and accountability–for heaven’s sake you slob, pick up your trash! No rule can make a “litter bug” not litter–I’m not so sure fines or litter patrol duty would change some. I read the survival guide and many of the JRS and do not recall in this past year seeing as much focus on “PARTICIPATE” as in past years. Whether virgins or old timers–non-participation and disconnection from community are the slipery slope to BRC becoming less desireable.
Good luck on addressing the social issues.
Please oh please for all future years of this most wonderful experience…develop a ticketing system that can handle the load; figure out some way to manage ingress and egress so it is not so painful; and continue to recruit such an array of delightful art and “entertainment”.
sorry for the novella, guess I’m passioinate about my fair city. see ya in ’12..if it fits.

My third burn. More prepared each time, in part to the valuable info from the staff. I was there almost a month this year and last (Temple build crew). Best month of my year, for sure.

Potties cleanest ever. For open Playa: blue lights are useful, though much brighter would be better; locate them on the map like you do for the city itself; have them on both sides of Man and Temple and there will be less pissing on the playa. The extra :15 roads were good addition. Maybe paint the street names on the posts so when the signs get yanked can at least still know where we are at.

Definitely more traffic lines coming in, separated right after turning off the pavement with a quick review of who is in the vehicle. Slow movers get a lane of their own. Vehicles who might go thru gate/greeters quicker have a lane. My first year I got an awesome greeting, what a way to start! So virgins ought to get that opportunity. The BMIR is more than useless when needed most during in/out. More upbeat, more useful and timely information, more varied music, less “Fuck ____”. Sad such a potentially valuable resource squandered.

Seems like BMORG is encouraging elitism with the First Camp snobs and massive RV’s with their own staff to fluff them 24/7. These folks will get no more out of it than they do going to any other spectator sporting event and watching from the air conditioned VIP boxes with binoculars.

Biggest challenge was running out of ice, especially early entry. Lost precious food, even went back to town for more and then lost food again due to no ice. How about a line for bulk purchases, like a carpool lane? More sell points = shorter lines. My theme camp is considering bringing an ice maker next year.

How about requiring people to have generators under a specific, acceptable dB level? They can be checked out at the gate. No pets, no guns, no overly noisy generators? Have a stamp, like the DMV, so if people sneak one in, they can be confiscated (and returned on the way out). If obnoxious generator is in an RV, have the RV leave if no cooperation. Move loud “music” venues to open playa pointing away from the city.

The biggest downer is the DPW volunteers. Almost all of the one’s I dealt with personally (about 50 so far) are some combination of rude, obnoxious, entitled, elitist, bitter, nasty and have no ability to utter a sentence that doesn’t contain Fuck (usually followed by “Off, and sometimes followed by “You” when I had the audacity to ask a question, or god forbid actually need something). From what I can tell, this behavior is condoned, even encouraged, by the organizers. As much as I would like to be a part of the city infrastructure, am wondering how I can fit in with my values intact. There are lots of good people to replace these cynical folks, so purge and let the less jaded have a shot!! On the other hand there are some really good ones too, so hats off to you for bucking the trend.

Art cars were running amok this year. Need more enforcement of speed and light rules. Any violation gets art car decommissioned for the rest of the event. Maybe one warning, certainly zero tolerance if they hit someone. Drive real slow = can see and enjoy the ride. So much to see from up high! Drive a little faster, at least have a spotter on the ground, sober, alert. I almost got smacked by a silent, stealth art car with no lights on. Probably their generator was out of fuel and storming back to camp for more. Your staff address this very real danger when someone’s rich daddy sues BMORG for allowing their little princess to get killed, even if she/he is is darkwadding. Also, mark off a no loud music zone around the Temple and enforce it, especially during and after the Temple burn. And the 2 cycle scooters must go. Dangerous, obnoxious. Electric (quiet) and 5 mph might be OK.

Will give it a go next year and hopefully somehow we can get the 10 principles embodied more.

Lastly, thanks for all the effort this very dedicated staff puts in during the event and especially during the other 51 weeks. I would love to be contacted for more in depth, constructive discussion on next year’s Festival.

Law enforcement generated too much vehical traffic during the event! They should have to ride a bike like the rest of us. Seriously, Park the SUV’s and Trucks, get out and stay out for the whole week. Don’t you remember what burning “The Man” was about in the first place?

United did a great job with the Porta poties! However they fail miserably with grey water service. The notion that we should pay a year in advance for service makes no sense. RVers and large camps with grey water containers did not get the service that they contracted for. There were service trucks traveling the roads, acting like they could not speak english or spanish, essentially saying that service was not their job, even though there was a decal in their windshield that read “RV Service”. Grey water disposal in the city should get the same “health and safety” priority as ice.

This was my 5th burn. Overall, it was a great event except for the lack of any decent music. Normally, enjoyment of music is a big part of the burn for me, but I didn’t dance out there once. Even dubstep can be better, most of what I heard was bass with a drumbox. Or some bad rap-ish junk. Is there really a reason to have 25-ish big sound camps along Esplanade all playing the same crap and trying to outblast each other? Where did the World music go? I caught the tail end of a guy playing a violin and the Earth Harp, there was so much more a couple years ago. Any other variety would make the experience more enjoyable, rock, old disco, big band for crying out loud, we don’t want to hear the same stuff 24 hours a day. Art cars had better music than most of the camps. When considering placement for camps, if they’re all listing the same genres of music why not just have a big sound camp on each end of Esplanade and maybe the middle and then give the rest of the real estate to camps with something else to offer? Some of the art out on the Playa was amazing, some of it, I’m not sure why it got placement, it was just “stuff” like filler. The Temple was very well done, wonderful job. I did notice alot more moop and rowdiness this year.

Best ever for me, great weather, got to observe tour buses in center camp drop off a group of curious people with single glow necklaces and watched them mill around in a clockwork circle observing all the art cars and staring cow eyes at the people having a great time, some looked like might have wanted to poke people with a stick to see their reaction. Reacting to maybe their own limitations of what this place was supposed to be about but found that it was as human and with merit as their own lives…only more interesting. We hope they return for the week next year now that they picked up a growing appreciation of what energy is created with people who can put down their social conditioning and rediscover the world from their own eyes, without peer pressure. Great freedom comes great responsibility and usually great danger. But here, people care about each other. And is a pretty safe experience.

Burning Man is the only place to find great freedom, great freedom and great people despite

here’s an idea that would help me…I can’t be the only who gets disoriented out in the playa…trying to get back to camp. This year I was walking back to the City from the Temple burn…dark, so dark and after Man was burned difficult to get bearings. I walked and walked and the city never seemed any closer, and walked and walked – heading to 4:00 so I was looking for the pier as a landmark to bring me in. Finally I thought I spotted it burning in the distance…? I made my way to it and asked if it was the pier and was told no it was the temple still burning. Joke’s on me…I had done a complete circle – like in those desert movies. I did a hysterical laugh-(also like in the the movies and started trying to drink playa dust -exaggerating a bit with that…) and started walking again. Even with all the strobes it all looks the same. Made it…and was glad to see pier unburned and was nurtured by the caring people of Fandango lounge.

Anyway here are my suggestions: If signposts could be installed pointing to the time divisions of the city -with lit beacons – in a circle between the Man and the City for lost souls to figure out where they are. OR… somehow have lights/signs large enough to see from the playa of the streets 2, 3, 4 o’clock etc. Realize it would be difficult to make it large enough to see but perhaps with lasers, or two huge lit balloons for 2:00, 3 lit balloons for 3:00 etc. OR 2 straight up light beams for 2:00, 3 beams for 3:00 etc. Leaving breadcrumbs to follow back would create a moop problem and I’d end up at the Gingerbread house anyway. Any other directionally impaired people out there with ideas? This was my 5th burn and still get lost.

I wrote a rather long post somewhere up the page, and will write one more small one in response to all the generator complaints. Part of the problem with really loud and obnoxious generators is that many people are powering AC units, which take a lot of power to push, and hence a big loud geny. Swamp coolers work just as well to beat the desert heat and are cheaper and require much, much less power. I sleep in a pop up trailer at the burn, and yes, use a generator that pushes a tiny swamp cooler. My generator is a quiet 1000 watt Yamaha that doesn’t bother a soul. And I sleep like a baby no matter when I hit the hay. Might be some useful info to include on the website somewhere. Use a swamp cooler, not an air conditioner.

I’ve been following the MOOP MAP interactive and I just want to say many many thanks to those folks. They’re working their butts off. Lessons to all of us…MOOP is everybody’s business…if you see it, and you leave it, it’s just as bad as dropping it yourself….Do what you can. Please. Barnaby: you might want to fill out a “Law Enforcement Feedback” form on that one. That would be behavior we would definitely want LEO to change.

Here is a copy of my two bit’s worth that is also being sent to the feedback address.

Feedback.

Raise the flags over Center Camp about 20-30 feet higher so they are more plainly visible from all over BRC.They are one of the better visual features at night to get one’s bearings. As BRC had gotten larger, the flags are harder to spot.

All vehicles on the playa should have red filters on their headlights. I believe this would slow down art cars at night, and make for better night vision and visual comfort for participants. There are some pretty searingly bright night vision destroying headlights on many art cars. Could DMV require red filters for headlights? The filter material could be even be provided. Why not? Just some speculation here. Driving with headlights that are bright enough for highway speeds unconsciously encourages excessive speed. I witnessed quite a few art cars that were easily exceeding the 5 mph speed limit at night. Dimming down their lights with red filters may well encourage slower speeds. At 5 MPH an automobile’s parking lights are entirely adequate. Requiring the lights to be aimed downwards rather than out horizontally would help too. Aiming them down would assist in dust storms too. Ever try your high beams in your car in a snow storm at night? They just make the snow in the air more blinding. Low beams are clearly superior.

Brief points about art cars in general. I am not familiar with how they are licensed by the DMV, or how BMORG views their role in the event, so I beg forgiveness for any apparent laughable ignorance on my part. Art cars are absolutely part of the Burn experience, it would not be the same without them. They can also at times be very disruptive, dangerous, and rude.
Art cars need are mixing it up with pedestrians, disoriented, distracted, intoxicated, and unlit pedestrians. Art cars need to drive at or near walking speeds.
There are some aggressive inconsiderate art cars drivers. Just saying
A personal plea here. Could art cars be banned from proximity to the Man and the Temple post burn, or could they at least be restricted from exceedingly loud music near these sites? In many years past, the drum circles and the more personal, primal, intimate, and tribal feeling low key music performed around the embers is one of the things I cherish the most at Burning Man. 2011, there was a large art car at the art car perimeter and 6‘o’clock, who was there for hours after the burn playing chest thumping loud music. Drum circles did not stand a chance. I walked away down 6 o’clock well past midnight. Only after I passed the Iron Monkey’s installation did I get far enough from that art car for it to not produce a palpable thump in my chest. Might the licensing procedure also be a time when protocols concerning how, when and where art cars are to be operated are spelled out? Can BRC rangers be empowered to pull an art car’s permit?

4. MOOP. Consider the idea of planting tiny elaborate year specific little trinkets of some sort all around BRC in predetermined places, that when found, entitle the finder to discount or free ticket for the next year. Make their existence widely known. The easter egg hunt, and/or win the lottery mentality it would stimulate may well increase the collective mooping behavior. I’d envision the items to be like, 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch in size, playa colored, and of a manufacture that would make counterfeits impossible. Perhaps requiring they be cashed in by event closing on monday noon would be good to do. Show us the moop you gathered and the medallion, and you score! I’d guess about fifty of them would be enough to make people feel there is a good enough chance of them finding one that they would buy into the game. This exercise may also give some objective measures as to mooping behaviors, such as where intensive mooping is done, and if objects as small as 1/8 an inch are even looked for come to mind. With some thought, perhaps even more useful insights could be made.

This was my second year and I had a great time. The art was beautiful and we were blessed with great weather.
I did notice how much more people there seemed to be from last year. I felt like with more people there was more trash, and more A-holes. It’s not necessarily an individual’s fault, but with more people the odds are raised for those kinds of things. I am also concerned about buying tickets for this coming year. My guess is that since they were sold out this year, ticket prices will go up, and be in much higher demand, and those who can only afford the lower priced tickets will be forced to pay for $350 tickets. I would like to see some sort of reform in entering and exiting the playa. Traffic was twice as bad as my previous year. Lastly, I hope that people will be more cautious with their trash when leaving. It was very sad to see how much was dumped on the highway!

I’m a long-time Burner so I’ll try and make this short. Our community issues and problems are directly proportional to how large the event has become. If we allow more people in the coming years, our problems multiple. 12 years of on-hand observation tell me this is true.

Bike theft is an extremely common and annoying occurrence. It’s clear you cannot leave anything unattended or unlocked at BM for any length of time. How times have changed, eh?

MOOP is much worse than I have seen. I use to be able to walk a few blocks and grab it all. There is so much now. It’s overwhelming on the numbered streets leading inward.

Arrival and Exodus are just sad. It’s only a matter of time before a catastrophic situation occurs in line because there is absolutely no … and mean NO … infrastructure support around. God forbid there is a car fire or health emergency. Exodus, especially. At least there was a port-o-potty every 1/4 mile. It’s not enough but I was thankful it was there.

Exit info on BMIR was non-existent or inaccurate. It would be extremely helpful to have direct, timely, and accurate information coming directly from the Exodus management team and fed real-time to listeners. If BMorg thinks this is currently happening, they are not paying attention. A complete overhaul of the Arrival and Exodus public communication is in order. This process is broken and has been for several years.

Additional ice locations or providing faster ice service at the existing locations is a good point made earlier. Also, when did bribing the Artica folks to get “VIP front of the line access” become a common and accepted practice? It’s now a game of the have’s and have nots.

It’s not all bad, though. The amount of art this year was overwhelming and refreshing. Maybe because more of my ticket money went to the effort. Who knows? Also, the port-o-potty’s in the city were much, MUCH better than I can remember. Cleaning was (at least) daily and I was grateful.

I’m hopeful BMorg will focus more ticket money on the infrastructure issues I mentioned above. It’s only fair and appropriate to provide superior basic services before we start doling out ticket monies like corporate welfare. Don’t you agree?

Quote: “Did they rename “Burning Man” to “Burning Weed Man?”… I hardly saw any open drug use two years ago and now it’s right in your face…In my opinion this is becoming a drug event, nothing more. LEO needs to step up enforcement.”

I fully agree…This amazing community and social experiment is degrading, rather quickly, into a mere excuse for bad behavior, and I, for one, am mourning the this unfortunate transformation.

I have no real issues with drug use at all, but the drug use was overt and literally shoved in people’s faces, including mine. I got to sit back and watch while several campmates took what was thought to be a “known” drug only to have their next three days destroyed by first a bad trip and then the come downs and hangovers.

If you want to do this, fine, but please, Burning Man (which does not have the greatest reputation in the default world), is now starting to become a joke out there as well, and that breaks my heart. How can I defend a miraculous gathering when all I see is virgins and newbs tearing down into a drug free-for-all?

I know Burning Man is what you make it, but it’s getting harder and harder each year to fight against the negative place it is going and to force it into my own, deeply personal experience.

But there were other, many wonderful parts, like the amazing art and some superb new friends.

Afraid of over population of people who do not volunteer,participate, or do theme camps. These people will push out true Burners, then what will be left. A bunch a yahoos rioting, “What band is Playing?” “Where’s those free pancakes I heard about, I got my cat ears on?”
Maybe sell tickets for 3-6 months only. True Burners will buy early. How about essays with ticket sells. How about selling tickets only to people who are registered on BM or JR. How about no more virgins without invites from previous Burners.
There is a way of monitoring this.
Something I heard…Allegedly… met someone that bought a ticket from a BM core member from Craigslist, Suspicious, tickets sold out? makes you wonder (allegedly)
What else?
Nothing that hasnt been said by others, wow we all thought the same thoughts.
The good: Thank you to those Virgins from Europe, france??? thay were working / Volunteerd selling Ice. Actually met many virgin that participated but not enough.
Oh and funny story: A very large Art Car sold tickets to garentee passage everyday, overheard the conversation when tourist were asked to come back in 30 min. while the car needed some, well can’t say or you would know who I’m talking about, so now you know why you were not allowed on
But over hearing doesnt mean anything…

Suggest that “Art Cars” be just that. We actually had a woman ask us to move from where we were waiting for the burn,,, so that they could “position their art-car”. This art car consisted of a white chevy F-10 pickup with construction racks that had a single string of unlit Christmas lights.

Art car????

Please! If this is allowed to happen,,, pretty soon every burn will look like a parking lot, instead of the colorful inventive creations we all look forward to seeing.

Reading all the feedback over the past few weeks since I arived back home, I can’t help feeling sorry for those who miss the point of this pilgramage. There are those of us who use this time to reflect on our caotic life and this event really can, if you let it, put things into great prespective.

There are not many things left in this life that can have an impact so great that it literally changes the way you look at the world. There is good and bad out there and there is no changing the fact that we have to deal with it.

Burning Man (at least for me) pushes my boundries well beyond those of normal life. I relize there will never be comunity that looks like this in the real world but for at least one week out of 52, there is freedom and the ability to express my internal artistic demon without judgement.

my 4th consecutive burn. best weather, best playa conditions, and most mellow trip.

would have like to have seen more people at night with lights….some without lights on them, or their bikes made riding more daunting. i’ll just peddle a little slower, and keep my eyes opened for the darkwads/darktards/fucktards, then swerve around them.

Exodus has to improve.
This is not news, but all the same…
EXODUS HAS TO IMPROVE.
This is not to point fingers, it’s a tangle of a problem. But it is such a downer, a drain, a bigtimesuck that we all are worrying about and devising exit strategies from the day we get there, if not months before hand. And then are worst fears are realized and we’re left never wanting to fucking go through that again.
But of course we will, cuz what else can we do?
Well we can come up with a better plan, that’s what. It’s gotta be at the top of the list for next year. What about adding a forum dedicated to solving this problem. Put it at the top of the Burning Man webpage. Make it a priority and it’ll happen.

My 2nd, my fiancees 1st. Zero complaints. Thank you for an amazing time.
All the whining about exodus is on you complainers! If there is an easier way to move 50,000 people at the same time to a one lane highway, I’d love to hear your ideas. We made the best of our 10 hour wait. One word you all should learn;Sexodus. Trust me it makes everything better!

I was a virgin burner who had an amazing first experience. Wow! I’m now addicted. For most of the time I was overwhelmed. I didn’t know what to do with myself, but I did pick up moop along the perimeter and I wondered how much got through the drift fence. I’ll do more next year.
I do have to ask about the dance music going 24 hours every day. Is there really someone out there dancing at Bass Camp between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m.? Really? Is it too much to ask for a few hours at sunrise to be quite and meditate, reflect upon the desert, and dare I say it – sleep?

All I can say is awesome. My second burn, my friends first. We welcomed all burners , especially the virgins, with love and hugs abound. I spent a few hours walking around mooping each day with my decorated moop stick and had a blast talking to people and cleaning up the playa. Biggest bitch about this… Freeking Feathers!! Ugg. What a pain in the ass to pick up. Seriously ban and contraband the feathers at the gate. Burners, make sure you spread the word NO FUCKING FEATHERS!! I was wondering about the influx of moterized bicycles and motor scooters that people were blazing around on this year, I only saw one decorized and obeying the sped limit on the playa. If its not an art car or a handicapped lisenced vehicle please prohibit it from the playa. Two cycle noise ripping by at 20 mph does not equal art, I can experience that shit in the default world. Exodus for me was faster than 2010, I left after the Temple Burn and only waited one and a half hour to hit the highway as compared to 3:30 hours in 2010. Lets face it folks, exodus is part of the ticket price so enjoy it for what it is. If the wait is too long for you, plan properly and leave early. Last thought, what was it with the people and the dogs on the playa? None of the three dogs I saw had a service jacket on it and they all looked like pets. I love my dog to pieces but left him at home cause it is the right thing to do at Burning Man. Cant wait till next year!!

This was the first burn for both my husband & I. After taking close to 2 years for planning and preparation, we took 3 weeks off from work and drove our ’94 Ram and dragged an old, 30’ camper from upstate New York. It was also the first time either of us had ever driven across country, so our journey was a destination in itself. But no destination, we would later realize, would compare to the playa…
We had joined a theme camp which was nice enough to give us early arrival passes. However, after getting there on Sunday, we quickly realized it was useless. There was no “early arrival lanes” to enter. After 4 hours, we made it to the final barrier where a very nice man said there was a problem with our tickets and he needed to take them to check them out. I told him I had the receipt as well and he said that would help to determine their authenticity. Another “guard” stood by our truck and chatted with us which helped subdue the impending anxiety meltdown I was having when I realized I just gave our tickets away to some guy – along with the receipt. Fortunately, he eventually returned and said the tickets were ok. Unfortunately, I was already sick to my stomach with fear. Just because the printer fucked up doesn’t mean people should be exposed to a mini heart attack. Now on to the experience itself…
Pros:
• Experiencing the unbelievable amount of creativity out there. There were so many folks who put so much thought and effort into their costumes, vehicles, camps, etc. Even though we are both artists, we were star struck! Bravo!
• The art itself was world class and awe inspiring. At moments I found myself in tears.
• Meeting so many generous, happy, friendly and genuinely beautiful people. Wow. I fell instantly in love a hundred times over and for the first time in my life truly tasted the milk of human kindness.
• Speaking of tasty milk – we loved the Booby Bar!
• The beautiful temple – it was an honor to experience that. I think it was so effective because so many of us have separated from “organized” religion, and the opportunity to openly pray together was amazing and cathartic. A thousand thanks to its creators.
Cons:
• Dub step “music” and the insolent assholes who crammed it down everyone’s throat. Case in point: it was 8:15am on Tuesday morning at E & 3:30 when one of two offending vehicles (I have pics – just ask) thought it would be a good idea to park their crap “art car” and blast the whole neighborhood. If it was up to me they would still be bleeding. This so called “music” stirs the most negative of feelings in most humans, and the decibel levels of these two vehicles were way over the top. Then they returned on burn day and I had to start chewing xanax like it was candy corn.
• Fat, white, middle age men who were there strictly for the tit show. They made themselves even more obvious by their exodus prior to the burning of the man.
• Having to ride our bicycles across the desert to request the honor of a pump out for our RV only to be told that they would be there “some time today”. Really? Is there no easier way to sign up for this ahead of time? And, after driving 2500 miles, we are expected to waste precious playa time waiting for the poop truck? My Logistics Manager head almost exploded.
• Finally, the infamous exodus. We stayed until the morning after the temple burn and it took 8+ hours to go 3+ miles. I wish someone would have tipped us off to that. It seriously cut into our travel time and we ended up pulling into our driveway in NY the following Sunday at 9:30pm. And then we had to go to work the next day. That could not have sucked more.

Will we do it again? You betcha. Will we drive there? No fucking way. This is where my Logistics Manager talents will come in handy.
Till we burn again…

First off everyone suggesting more rules is insane. The last thing to do is indoctrinate everyone with more law. (art cars must be 500 yards from temple on night of burn… etc) I mean come on people this is about cooperation. If you can’t encourage someone to stop ruining your burn you might want to consider why you are focused on controlling your experience. Being a virgin I didn’t know there was a drum circle. I’ll look for it next year and I’ll be there and help move out noisy art cars ;)

BMIR I did tune out mostly because the chatter was uninteresting and generally negative. I didn’t have a radio other than during exodus but that is when I would expect more information, more music, Anyhow I did notice other stations set up around the city and will probably try to tune in more next year.

Segways and scooters, well a good friend of mine broke herself falling off a scooter the 2nd day. That was a drag for her all week and almost ruined her burn but even she still managed to be awesome. I saw a guy on a Segway completely eat shit. When Segways fail they fail big. So as far as banning them, I don’t really care but you won’t see me riding one.

Ice stations!!! I was so stoked to have ice available. Met some cool women who split a 6 pack of ice with me. People asking for more ice stations need to get a grip and remember nothing about this experience is supposed to be 100% comfortable 100% of the time. Yes the lines are long and people who have a bike while in line makes them look longer. But waiting 10 minutes with the coolest people in the world for ice in the middle of the dessert at a reasonable price….not the worst situation in the world buddy.

Okay people asking for trash and water services…. um pretty much the same situation as above. I didn’t get a real shower all week. I used baby wipes every night and was generally very impressed with how clean I was afterwards. So people when you say it should be easier to get your water pumped. I don’t care. If you filled up your tank in the middle of the week and need to sit around and miss out on your burn cause you have to hang out at camp… well maybe your camp should be more awesome to hang out at. or use less water. I wish I had built an evaporation pond but will next year. However I kept my grey water down to 2 gallons for the week.

Recycling services in Reno were awesome!!!!! We were low on gas for exodus and took 3 bags of beer bottles from a camp who gave us a couple gallons that saved our ass on our 9 hour exodus. (Who brings beer in glass bottles??)

The weather was awesome!!!! I will bring warmer clothes next year! One night I was unable to play on the playa because I was just too damn cold.

Temple – Thank you soooooo much. I have no words for how beautiful everyday was seeing the temple on bike rides and sitting in the gameltron. Wow.

DPW – Generally you guys were the burners I least enjoyed connecting with. I was completely put off with your overall superiority complex. Thanks for all you do to make BRC functional.

Steam-punk Octopus – you were my god for the week!!! and still! I can’t wait to see you again.

Trojan Burn – EPIC!!!!! I’ve never seen fire like that before and maybe never will.

Porta potties – Were generally very clean. I was very surprised how pleasant my shits were throughout the week. Ran out of TP the last 2 days or so but I wasn’t expecting them to be stocked anyway so I used what I brought. There really should be better ways to navigate them the nights of the burns. I had problems finding them when I needed them. It was a constant struggle to not pee of the playa. I saw many people do this and was told by a vet that it was okay on burn nights.???!?!!!!

Darktards/Darkwads/Ninjas – So yes I almost hit a ton of people. Not really fun but they were always apologetic. I really can’t believe these people didn’t come with a glow stick. I bought a ton of lights to the point I thought I had too many and would look stupid. When I put them on the bike the first night I realized I wanted more!!! And when you are a brightly visible bike the darkwads avoid you. I heard some burners claiming they preferred being invisible at night like a ninja. So to each his own.

Music – Not a fan of dub step, but there are drug induced moments when it’s really neat to hear 2 art cars blasting their music at a sound camp and standing in the middle listening to the cacophony. Wish there was more variety. As a musician I will bring some of that variety next year.

Entrance – Okay so it took about a day longer to get to Black Rock than we had originally planned so we missed the Entrance party. My friends were in line for 6 hours or so and said they had a good time with their neighbors. We rolled in on Tuesday morning and didn’t have to wait more than 15 minutes. I really wish I would have been there earlier but next year I will plan on a long gate wait.

Exodus – I didn’t expect this to take as long as it did. 9 hours!!!! but our camp was slow in packing up on Monday and didn’t leave camp until 3pm so we left during peak times. The camp next to us left 3 hours later and somehow passed us in the left lane during exodus. I didn’t expect to need anymore food for exodus so we were stuck eating rolls and random food that wasn’t satisfying. During exodus I was gifted an awesome metal key chain from a little boy. :) Next year I will have better food for exodus and plan on the long wait and/or leave at a different time. Instead of trying to get out faster we should all relax and find ways to make exodus just as enjoyable as the rest of the week. Embrace this as your last opportunity to meet and gift.

So all in all. No new rules. Change your attitude toward the situation and use these negative experiences to learn more about yourself. That’s why we’re all here right?

AMAZEBALLZ!!! Yet another Spectacular year! Way to go people!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

A few observations;

1) ART. Tons of art = GREAT Experience! WOW! AMAZING!!! It would be nice if the art wasn’t so packed together in the Playa radius from the man to the Temple. How ’bout distributing it somewhat evenly all the way to the trash fence? There seems to be no draw to go into deep Playa. It was hard not to stumble on art in the Eslplanade adjacent Playa, but once out in deep Playa it was difficult to find art.

2) BLM RANGERS. The BLM Rangers were frigging EPIC! Fantastic! Someone apparently read the memo… what a 180 from previous year’s angry policing bodies! Every time I saw a BLM Ranger, they were engaging with the BR Citizens in a friendly non-confrontational way! They smiled and encouraged photo’s with them and put out an amazing energy… kinda like we were all there to have fun and in good spirit! Go think! What a world of difference! Way to go BLM Rangers!!

3) DWP. Get of your high horses. You are here to help out, not spit on!

4) BRC STREETS. The City size was comfortable despite it’s increased area. Not sure how the extra 16 quarter-hour streets worked out, though they did seem to throw a lot of people for a loop… getting lost as they turned on the wrong street. Clearly the citizens of BRC didn’t particularly like the choice of street names this year as most signs were removed and replaced with more pleasant (or fun) names early in the week (if not just completely removed). It was nice to have the smaller posts on the corners to identify the streets when the signs disappear!

5) RADIAL STREETS. Most of the radial streets (half-hour streets) were jammed with traffic! Clogged and hard to make it out to the Playa. Rutted to no end and always difficult to maneuver due to the traffic load. One turning mid-sized art car brings traffic to a hault and causes accidents. Simple solution – Widen radial streets by 20-30 feet. That would avoid serious accidents and headaches.

6) IMMIGRATION. I always look forward to a Greeter’s warm smile and hug. But after experiencing the immigration B.S., even the wonderful Greeter’s hugs couldn’t shake the shit! What an extraordinarily angry bunch of pissed off people. WTF happened? Angry, confrontational and plain hostile. I heard countless stories of how poorly behaved they were. Not sure what’s happened here but these F’s need to take the same pill the BLM Rangers took and realize, no matter how long the line, or how long the shift, one of THEIR PRIMARY duties is to WELCOME BR citizens HOME! Not set a tone of anger and confrontation! I feel like I was greeted with a fist instead of a smile. WTF?? If they don’t like being there, then get the F out! If you can’t smile at EVERYONE, quit your job! YOU don’t belong! Most people have been working months and traveling days in anticipation of arriving home, only to be confronted with bitter-faced HOSTILE Natzis! They did a superior job of setting a negative tone to a bunch of excited burners’ burn! THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE! (if that means shorter shifts, then so be it!) Feel the Love, People! Feel the LOVE! and learn from the BLM Rangers!

7) ICE. More Arctica Ice Stations. Always long lines. Servers as always were fun and friendly. Though they completely ran out and closed. Then rationed when they had ice. Oops! People need ice. Let’s make it easy . . . especially as the City population will increase dramatically next year . . . More Arctica Stores distributed throughout the city. Or just more reliable ice where they are.

8) POTTIES. More Deep Playa Porta Potties. Though I thankfully didn’t run across another steaming pile of shit on Deep Playa again this year, there were an unusually large number of piss puddles out on the Playa, with not a Porta Pottie in sight. The porta potties overall were clean and well kept as usual.. as always, many thanks to those who make it there job to purge our city of our nasty stinking shit!

9) PLAZAS. It would be nice if the 3:00 & 9:00 Plazas were located closer to the major population of the city, (ie. “C” or “D”) away from the Esplanade. Most of Black Rock Citizens live well beyond “D”. The Plazas (with Arcticas) are located adjacent to the Esplanade. It would make sense if these Plazas moved out a couple of streets (to “C” or “D”) to more evenly distribute their fabulous services to our fair City.

10) SOUND CAMPS. LOVED the concentration of sound camps on the 10:00 Avenue! Surprising and cool that they bordered the Playa-side of 10:00! Didn’t expect that, but it was very cool… loved the energy over there! Would be nice to keep all sound camps focused to the Esplanade and Deep Playa instead of in the middle of the residential neighborhoods.

11) MOTORIZED VEHICLES. Segways? Really? The last thing this city needs is personal motorized vehicles. Stop the madness! Art cars, HC vehicles and Official city workers/security should be the ONLY motorized vehicles in our fair city! All others, use your feet! Walk or bike. Period.

12) ENTRY/EXODUS. It all works perfectly… not everything can be easy out in BRC, nor should it! If you don’t like lines, arrive and leave when there aren’t any.

13) SERVICES. It’s always fun to hear and read about people/camps complain need all their services while at “Home”. Hmmm…. if it’s a problem, practice one of the 10 principles… RADICAL SELF-RELIANCE! Just sayin’.

Overall, once again thanks to all those who made it happen and to yet another spectacular year!

Counting the days until the next burn! Thank you for all your hard work!!!

I have grave concerns about the new lotto system for tickets for 2012. So there is a chance that after, bribing co-workers all year to get the time off and spending a year worth of time, large sums of money and great effort and not be able to confirm I have a ticket. It’s to much. This system hurts people.

Greetings,
Having worked Gate and Perimeter for many years and with the new ticket process, I am wondering if there has been any thought given to having all tickets at Will Call. Yes, this would mean more staff for Will Call, but if the kiosk for Will Call was 1/4 mile before Gate, then there could be the potential for less counterfeit tickets and the assurance that everyone in that vehicle had a ticket, helping to reduce the issues at Gate.
Lynda

This is to add on to Tiffany’s comment about greeters and some of the volunteers around the whole Burn operation, from DPW and on. I get it, the whole pretend we are carnies and were extras in Mad Max bullshit, its amusing but I think many forget your dealing with people. Now, I’m by no means thinned skinned, I can be a ass myself at times, but thats why I enjoy making the trek to Burn. To shed that anger and bullshit of the day to day world behind me for a week. My first couple times in the late 90s taking part in things was great, though limited due to funds being low. But the few times over the past 5 years I have been trying to enjoy the experience, But I took off 2011, because its not a cheap trip coming from the east coast, and we meet up with our camp from the west. I dont need to be treated special I dont need shit, but a fuckin half assed smile or atleast a welcome to Burn would be nice. Instead several times I ran into people being crapped on by volunteers, cussed at, too a point where in 2010 I threatened to bust a dude in the head from DPW because he stepped on a female burner in front of us, and knocked my wife to the ground trying to push through the crowd. All because he was late to the man burning, and was looking for his friends. Thats the kind of shit I get sick of being around all year in the “real” world. I come to Burn to escape that shit. I think if one is going to volunteer and represent the Burner community, they should bring some peace of mind and respect. We drop alot of personal time, thought and cash on getting out to NV in the summer, like many. many others do from around the country and the world. Not all of us are a quick drive across the mountains for club weekend in the desert. It would be nice to be treated like humans by the people who put themselves out there to represent the community. Every year my wife volunteers several times, I myself keep our camp running and together, not to mention doing my part bringing some art and entertainment for the neighbors. All we all ask and expect is a little bit of respect.

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